


I Remember

by ExtremeLight9



Category: Crash Bandicoot (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor, Minor Violence, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-03-20 06:46:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 38,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13712148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtremeLight9/pseuds/ExtremeLight9
Summary: AU. She knew there was no way for them to return home, so what makes him keep on trying? Set after Something About You.





	1. Falling Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone, I’m finally back with a new story. Some people have expressed interest in a sequel to my first Crash fic Something About You and I decided to finally do it. I recommend you go read that before this one. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Crash Bandicoot.

“Crash!”

 

Crash yelped awake and fell off his bed as someone proceeded banging on his bedroom door. Groaning, he sat up and rubbed his head.

 

“Crash, hurry! Open up!”

 

Heart pounding against his chest, Crash scrambled over to the door, wearing nothing more than his green boxers and socks. He quickly opened the door to see his sister standing there in her blue pajamas.

 

Before he could get a word out, she grabbed him by the hand and dragged him away urgently. “Come on, hurry! It’s gonna end soon!” Crash yelped as he tried to keep up with her. Once they were out of the house, Crash saw it was still nighttime and grumbled under his breath. What did she wake him up for?

 

“Look!” Coco exclaimed as pointed to the sky. Crash did just that and gasped at the streaks of light shooting through the sky.

 

“It’s a meteor shower!” his sister muttered gleefully. “Isn’t it amazing?”

 

Crash nodded absently, his gazed fixed at the sky. He followed his sister to the beach and sat on a bent palm tree, watching in awe as they continued raining down from the sky. He let out a soft yawn and scratched his back before looking up ahead to his sister.

 

She was standing a few feet away, closer to the shore and was busy recording the shower on her phone, muttering excitedly to herself.

 

Crash looked up at the bright sky and closed his eyes, breathing in the cool night air and sighing contently.

 

It’s been three months since Cortex’s castle sank into the sea and the islands were freed from his control. He and his sister have been living in Wumpa Islands under Aku-Aku’s protection ever since.

 

The world outside the castle was much more breath-taking than he thought it would be. No matter where he went, there was always something that sparked his curiosity. Crash didn’t miss the life of confinement he had at the castle. Living as one of Cortex’s pawns, a means to an end and nothing more.

 

Suddenly, just as he was starting to relax, Crash gasped when a meteorite flew over their heads and crashed into the edge of the forest, the sound of the impact shaking the air and causing the birds nearby to fly away. The two didn’t have much time to recover as another one followed it and hit the mountain.

 

“C-Crash, are you okay?” he sister asked shakily. Crash gulped nervously and nodded, staring at the mountain where he could see smoke rising. It was then Crash grimaced when a cold, dreadful feeling filled the air and for a split second he thought their surroundings darkened a little.

 

And then the laughter came.

 

It was deep and malicious, seeming to be coming from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It sent a shiver down their spines as they drew closer together.

 

Aku-Aku suddenly appeared in a flash of light. “Children, hurry. Get inside!” he muttered urgently.

 

Deciding not argue, the two mutants rushed inside their house and Aku-Aku closed the door shut with his magic.

 

“Aku-Aku, what’s going on?” Coco asked.

 

The mask sighed and his expression turned grim. “My brother Uka-Uka..…he’s free.”

 

**\--------**

 

“A long time ago, my brother and I used to guard the islands together as one force. We had our different views and….ways of doing our duty, but everything was fine for the most part. However, Uka-Uka began to desire more power and control to the point where he tried to rule over the islands and even the world itself.”

 

Aku-Aku turned from the fireplace to face the two bandicoots. “Of course, I was there to stop him. He was then sealed away in a temple in the mountain. Even though he couldn’t escape his prison for centuries, his magic managed to seep through and create the monsters that used to roam the islands,” he explained gravely. “Now that he’s free, there is no knowing what he might try to do.”

 

Crash exchanged an uneasy look with his sister before she asked. “Aku-Aku, what are you going to do?”

 

“For now, I’m going to track him down and see what he might be up to. Until I come back, I want you two to stay home and don’t venture into the forest, alright?”

 

“Okay….just be careful,” Coco said and Crash nodded at him.

 

The mask chuckled. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Stay safe,” he said before finally vanishing.

 

**\---------**

 

The two mutants did as they were told and remained home in the next morning. Coco was sitting on the floor, typing away on her laptop. She barely managed to get much sleep for the rest of the night with the danger of the ancient evil mask looming over their heads. Her brother was lying on the floor, staring at the wall in boredom. Not that she blamed him.

 

Several minutes later, she noticed her laptop’s battery was dying. She frowned in dismay and then had an idea. “Hey, Crash. Could you go find a….” she trailed off when she noticed she was alone in the room. “Crash?”

 

She closed her laptop and left to look for him around the house. She then went outside. “Crash? Crash, where are you?” she called out, beginning to panic and then saw him by the bushes, bending down in front of something. As she drew closer, she could hear him cooing and laughing.

 

Raising an eyebrow, she spoke up. “Crash, what are you doing?”

 

Crash stiffened and glanced back at her.

 

“What do you have there?” she asked curiously, tilting to the side to see what he was hiding.

 

Crash quickly stood up and shook his head while showing her his empty hands, a nervous smile on his face.

 

Coco narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously and then noticed something orange moving in the bushes behind him, but before she could get a good look at it, it disappeared.

 

Deciding to question him about that later, Coco sighed. “Never mind, what are you doing out here? Aku-Aku told us to stay indoors until he comes back, remember?”

 

Face lighting up, Crash ran over to pick something off the ground and brought it back to her.

 

“Space rock!” Crash muttered, grinning widely.

 

Coco blinked in surprise at the dark rock in his hand. “Wait, is this first meteorite that fell here last night?” she asked even though she knew the answer and Crash nodded.

 

Coco groaned and rubbed her temples. Honestly, she shouldn’t really be surprised by this.

 

Well, it didn’t matter at this point and she would be lying if she said she wasn’t a bit curious about his finding too. “Alright, let’s head home.”

 

Just as they were about to turn around, a low noise coming from within the forest made them stop in their tracks. The two were even more startled when loud screams followed it.  

 

Looking at each other worriedly, the two siblings quickly rushed into the forest.

 

**\---------**

Somewhere in a far city the night before, Neo Cortex was lying on a bed in a shabby apartment.

 

This was what his life had come to. Ever since that night when he fled his castle with his minions and lost all of his research and inventions, everything had gone downhill for him.

 

Since he had nowhere to go, he fled to this city and started living in this apartment block. He also had to keep his mutants somewhere away from the public’s eye.

 

 _And it’s all his fault._ Cortex thought with a dark scowl, the face of the grinning imbecile flashing in his mind. If it weren’t for that idiot he would have had his perfect mutant army and probably conquering the world right now, but now because of him everything was lost!

 

Growling, he slammed his fist against the bedside in frustration and sighed.

 

Just then, Cortex felt a chill in the air and shivered. “Great,” he huffed. Now the thin walls were letting the cold into his room, as if it wasn’t bad enough already-

 

His train of thought was immediately broken when he noticed black smoke gathering in the center of the room and he yelped in fright, pressing himself against the wall.

 

A dark face with demonic yellow eyes stared back at him from the blackness. “Doctor Cortex.”

 

The man’s eyes widened. “Y-you!?”


	2. Returned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, sorry for the wait. Got busy with my exams. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this.

Crash sprinted through the forest with his sister right behind him, eyes searching for the source of the screams.

 

Soon enough, the two reached one of the old temples in the jungle. They ran past the stone gate and stopped in front of the temple. There were broken and crumbled pillars everywhere.

 

What happened here? Crash looked around the area and suddenly spotted an old man hiding behind some rubble, shaking in fear.

 

Crash quickly rushed over and knelt down next to him. The old man jerked back at seeing them, but then relaxed slightly when he recognized the mutant who came to their village months ago. He pointed at the bandicoot and mouthed something in his language. Crash didn’t understand what he said, but nodded at him anyway.

 

“Um, Crash?” Coco suddenly called out, her voice shaking. Crash looked up from behind the rubble to where she was pointing at and saw something standing in front of the temple gate. A statue.

 

It was massive in size and was somehow….walking. It picked up a large rock and flung it about, knocking over a nearby stone pillar.

 

“W-what is that? How is it moving!?” Coco muttered in disbelief.

 

“Cool!” Crash exclaimed, grinning.

 

“Crash, no! This is serious!” she gaped at him.

 

The living statue suddenly paused and turned to them, making the two siblings freeze up. It let out a low growl before picking up a piece of rubble and flung it straight towards them.

 

The old man screamed and scrambled away in terror.

 

“Look out!” Coco screamed and the two mutants quickly jumped out of the way before they were crushed beneath it.

 

Coco gasped when the giant colossus turned to her and swung its arm at her. The girl dropped on her belly and clutched her head as the creature’s arm passed over her head, barely missing her.

 

Crash snarled at this and punched its leg, which in hindsight was a terrible idea. “Ow!” he winced and backed away, clutching his throbbing hand. That got the giant’s attention on him though and it turned to loom over him. He smiled nervously before screaming and scrambling away with the giant hot on his heels, shaking the ground with every step.

 

Panting, Crash suddenly stopped in front of a pillar. While he was out of breath, the stone creature didn’t seem to be tired at all. Just when the giant charged forward, he jumped to the side to avoid getting crushed, causing the statue to crash into the pillar and fall backwards as it broke.

 

Pulling himself up, Crash saw the statue collapsed on the ground. He took a wary step closer to it and he gasped when black mist began coming out of the statue before vanishing.

 

Once it was gone, Crash walked over to the statue and kicked it lightly, but it didn’t move. He gulped. He had seen this before. Memories of the monsters that used to roam the islands flashed in his mind and he shivered at the implications behind this.

 

“Crash, are you alright?” Coco came running over to him, concerned.

 

He gave her his usual grin and nodded, but yelped when the old man suddenly came over and grabbed his sore hand, shaking it frantically and muttering words of gratitude in his language.

 

Winging, Crash smiled at him weakly, but casted a worried look to the mountain, feeling a knot form in his stomach.

 

\------

 

Dr. Cortex gulped as he stared at the being before him. He knew that voice. It was the one that spoke to him in those strange dreams. For a moment, he was at a loss for words. “You’re….Uka-Uka-”

 

“So, this is where you’ve been. I’ve been wondering where you went for the past couple of months,” the mask said causally before giving him a dark glare. “Mind telling why you haven’t come to free me?”

 

The man stuttered. “I-I’m sorry, Master Uka-Uka. I-we’ve tried to look for you everywhere, but we had no idea where that fool Aku-Aku had you locked up. We tried everything we can to get him to talk. W-we even threatened to destroy one of the islands, but he wouldn’t open up.”

 

The mask’s aura flared at the mention of his traitorous brother. “I don’t want to hear any excuses! I’ve seen the state of the islands and I know you failed!” he snarled and the man flinched.

 

“W-well, yes, but-”

 

Just then, someone knocked on the door and stepped inside. It was Brio, carrying some plastic bags in his hands. “Doctor, I brought dinner….” The man trailed off and shrieked at the sight of the demonic mask in the center of the room, pressing himself against the door in fright.

 

“And who is this?” Uka-Uka asked, staring down at the nervous man.

 

“That’s N. Brio. He’s my assistant,” Cortex muttered and Brio gave a shaky wave.

 

Uka-Uka glared at the short man for a moment before turning to Cortex. “In that case, where is that army you mentioned?”

 

**\--------**

 

Dr. Cortex grumbled under his breath as he trudged through the snow covered street, shivering in a grey winter coat. Brio was right behind him, rubbing his hands together and looking slightly anxious. People who passed by gave them weird looks, but he paid them no mind.

 

Making their way through an alley, they reached a large old storage house at the end of it. _“Is this the place?”_ the voice in his head asked.

 

“Yes, we’re here,” he looked around briefly and deemed it safe. “You can come out now,”

 

Uka-Uka appeared in a flicker of red and eyed the building for a moment before bursting into laughter. “Seriously? _This_ is your hideout?”

 

“Well, it’s not like we have a choice considering that everything I own is in the bottom of the ocean!” Cortex huffed and rolled his eyes before asking. “Say, you still haven’t told me how you were freed.”

 

The mask ignored him and turned to look around, causing the scientist to groan and walk over to the door, grumbling.

 

Uka-Uka gazed around at the buildings towering over them. He knew it had been centuries since he had been sealed away in the mountain and would be lying if he said he wasn’t taken aback by how much the world had changed. There were buildings of stone and metal everywhere. Not to mention all the strange machines he saw on his way here. It’s true he used to manage to get brief glimpses of the island through his prison sometimes, but never saw anything like this before.

 

He suddenly caught Brio whispering furiously to Cortex and the two seemed to be arguing about something. “What are you two chattering about?”

 

“Nothing, nothing!” Cortex stammered nervously and quickly unlocked the door.

 

The two men and the spirit mask made their way inside the storage house. There were crates all over the place among other things. The mutants were scattered around, some playing cards around while others were just lying about. They all turned at the sound of the door opening and were surprised to see the two humans weren’t alone.

 

“Oi, who’s that?” Dingodile muttered, sitting up and tilting his head to the side curiously.

 

“Hold on, you look like that mask from the islands!” Pinstripe noted, to which Uka-Uka responded with a glare in his direction.

 

Cortex cleared his throat. “Everyone, this is Mighty Uka-Uka. He is a powerful being capable of great evil and destruction. He has inspired some of my evil plans in the past too.”

 

A bark of laughter suddenly filled the room and Cortex turned to the source of it. “What? You can’t be serious!” Pinstripe said, followed by more murmurs of agreement from the other mutants in the room, causing the mask to scowl darkly.

 

“He doesn’t look that tough,” Dingodile huffed, arms crossed.

 

“As far as I remember, the other mask wasn’t even that strong,” Joe muttered.

 

Koala Kong nodded and gave an unimpressed smirk at the mask. “Yeah, I bet I can crush him with my two fingers,” he said, holding his fingers up for emphasis.

 

Suddenly, the lights in the room flickered and a chilling feeling ran through the mutants’ spines. They cried out when gravity fell and they were pulled into the air.

 

“W-what’s going? What is this!?” They thrashed around in confusion before their limps went rigid all of a sudden.

 

Koala Kong then founded himself face to face with the mask whose eyes were blazing orange. “Would you like to say that again?” he said and the mutants felt their limps begin aching.

 

“N-no,” the mutant wheezed, causing the mask to drop him and the rest of his companions to the ground.

 

“Pathetic,” Uka-Uka muttered and turned to the doctor again. “So, what is your next plan now?”

 

“Umm….well….Brio and I have been gathering as much money and equipment as we can, but it’s not enough to get us back to where we used to be…or even close to that,” he added with a wince.

 

Uka-Uka growled. “This isn’t acceptable, Cortex! We haven’t even begun yet and you are already disappointing me!”

 

“I’m sorry, Master Uka-Uka, but we are in difficult spot right now. Maybe if we had more resources or energy we would have been able to fix everything.”

 

“Why not just gather some Power Crystals then?” Uka-Uka asked, raising an eyebrow.

 

“We can’t. Those have become quite rare unlike in the past. I only managed to find two during the years I spent in Wumpa Islands,” Cortex answered hesitantly and closed his eyes, expecting another outburst, but was surprised when that didn’t happen.

 

The mask seemed to be thinking deeply about something.

 

“Master Uka-Uka?”

 

A long sharp grin suddenly stretched across the mask’s face as an idea hit him. “Well, I guess I have to find another brilliant mind to fix this,” he turned to glare at Cortex. “I’ll be back soon. Don’t do anything until I return, understand?”

 

“Y-yes,” Cortex stuttered in surprise.

 

With that, the mask disappeared, leaving the villains in their confusion.

 

**XXXXXXXXX**

 

Somewhere far away, in a place filled with clocks and cogs, a tall man was standing over a desk, looking over some blue prints in thought. The sound of him shuffling through the papers and the ticking of the clocks was the only thing that filled the silence.

 

The man picked up a cup of tea and took a sip from it before setting it down and returning to his work.

 

Suddenly, he heard something behind him. At first he thought it was just exhaustion, but then he stiffened when he heard it again. He quickly reached for his staff which looked like a tuning fork and took a fighting stance. “Who’s there?” he called out, narrowing his eyes warily.

 

Something moved in the shadows of the room before coming out into the light. It was a floating wooden mask. The man blinked and tilted his head in puzzlement, but quickly regained his composure. “What are you? How did you get in here?”

 

The mask smirked. “You’re the one named N. Tropy, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!


	3. Leap Through Time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks for all the positive feedback. I really appreciate it. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Cortex huffed as he stood beside his assistant, watching their new alley working in front of the computer screen while more androids walked past them. He looked around the hub, eyeing everything with interest.

 

“Impressed?” N.Tropy asked, glancing back at him with a smirk.

 

 “What? Me? N-no! I was just feeling bored. That’s all!” he sputtered and Brio buried his face in his hands. N.Tropy snorted at this and returned his attention to the screen, entering the new coordination as the next group of androids moved forward and disappeared in a portal.

 

“If I may ask….how exactly are we going to go about this? Even if your machine could send us back in time, the crystals could be anywhere in the world,” Brio asked after Cortex whispered in his ear.

 

“That won’t be a problem. I programmed this machine to pick up on the energy signals coming from the Power Crystals and send you where those signals are the strongest. I have opened all time portals in each area so you can always leave whenever you like,” N. Tropy answered without turning to them.

 

That got Cortex thinking. Travelling to any point in history with the knowledge of what will happen in the future and the freedom to do whatever he wanted with that knowledge. It was beyond tempting. “Say….” He began. “Can your machine send me back to any where I want?”

 

“It can, but why do need it?” the man in armor asked.

 

“To fix a few things that I couldn’t prevent,” he answered, his tone casual. _Like getting defeated by that idiot and losing my castle._

 

“Using the Time Twister for personal goals is out of the question,” N. Tropy stated firmly, causing Cortex to scowl.

 

“Why not? It’s a time machine! Imagine all the things we could achieve by using it to its full potential!”

 

“Time is a delicate thing, Cortex, and tampering with it can have terrible consequences. Everything you change will have unforeseen results. You could end up preventing this encounter from ever happening or worse, you could end up destroying everything,” N. Tropy explained stoically. “Which is why you mustn’t mess around with anything when you’re using my machine,”

 

Cortex huffed and looked away. “Alright, fine.”

 

Suddenly, Uka-Uka appeared with another person. He was almost shorter than the two scientists and his face was half robot, but what stood out the most about him was the missile stuck to his head.

 

“Who’s that?” N. Tropy asked firmly. “You know I don’t welcome anybody near my creations,”

 

“This is N. Gin. I brought him to assist Cortex,” Uka-Uka answered.

 

“What!?” Brio exclaimed in disbelief. “But that’s my job!”

 

“Wait….I know you two!” N. Gin muttered.

 

“Yes, we were in the same class back in the evil school. I liked that robot suit you created,” Cortex replied.

 

“Dr. Cortex!” Brio screeched angrily.

 

“Enough! I brought you all here to ensure there will be no errors in our plan. You three should and **_will_** get along. Failure is not an option for you,” Uka-Uka snapped, putting himself in front of Brio with his eyes blazing. The man nodded nervously under the mask’s glare, but exchanged angry looks with N. Gin once the mask turned away.

 

Uka-Uka suddenly a presence nearby, but when he looked around he saw nobody. He raised an eyebrow and shrugged it off as nothing.

 

**\----------**

 

Aku-Aku teleported back to the islands, grass blowing back a little in his appearance. He looked around the beach and sighed, glad to be back home. Wasting no time, he hurried back to the house and slipped through the window.

 

He was about to call out for the two siblings when he heard a sudden cry.

 

“Ouch!”

 

Aku-Aku followed the noise in confusion and found them in the kitchen. Coco was kneeling in front of Crash, trying to press a piece of cloth against Crash’s leg.

 

“Crash, quit being a baby about this. It doesn’t hurt that much,” Coco muttered and Crash grumbled under his breath.

 

“Children?” The two yelped at his voice and looked surprised to see him.

 

“Oh, Aku-Aku. You’re back!” Coco said, smiling nervously.

 

“Crash, are you alright?” The mask flew over to check on Crash in concern. His hair was disheveled and one hand of his was wrapped with bandages. He also noticed Coco wasn’t in a much better state. “What happened to you two? How did you end up like this?”

 

At their hesitation, he knew the answer. “You two went to the forest, didn’t you?” he asked and their ears fell. He scowled. “I can’t believe it. I specifically told you two stay away from there!”

 

“We’re sorry, but monsters started attacking the people in the forest. We couldn’t just stay here and do nothing!” Coco protested.

 

“I’m not saying it’s wrong that you tried to save the villagers, but what you were doing wasn’t going to fix the problem.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Even if you defeat the monster, my brother’s dark magic won’t simply disappear. It will just find another creature or object to mutate,” The mask explained. “That’s why I need to be there to get rid of it.”

 

“Oh,” Coco wanted to slap her forehead. All their efforts to protect everyone for the past two days had been only delaying the disaster and possibly making it worse. It would had ended badly for them if Aku-Aku hadn’t returned so soon.

 

He sighed. “I’m going to head out to take care of any monsters in the forest. Once I’m done, I’ll come back to tell you of what I have found out.” He turned around and headed for the window.

 

Crash suddenly hopped off the chair and ran over to him.

 

“What is it, Crash?”

 

Crash pointed at himself and then outside, punching the air. It soon dawned the mask that he wanted to help him fight off the monsters.

 

His frustration at their actions melted away and warmth filled him as memories of their first adventure flashed in his mind. “Thank you, Crash, but I have regained my full power. I can defeat them by myself this time. Just wait for me here, alright?” he said, smiling patiently.

 

Crash looked unsure, but nodded and watched him leave through the window.

 

Two hours later, Aku-Aku returned and began telling them of his findings.

 

“I spent the last two days tracking my brother and found out something quite dangerous. He’s in contact with Dr. Cortex.”

 

“WHAT!?” The two siblings muttered in shock. “A-are you sure?” Coco asked.

 

Aku-Aku nodded grimly. “I know this is very worrying, but I have seen it with own eyes. My brother even sounded like he already knew who Cortex is. They seem to be gathering allies for a new evil plan,”

 

Crash looked down at his lap, shivering at the memory of the scientist and the possibility of his return.

 

“What do we do, Aku-Aku?” the girl asked.

 

“We must stop them before whatever they’re planning comes into fruition. We have to leave the islands and go after them. With those two working together, the whole world is at risk,” the mask stated. “Follow me!”

 

Crash blinked in surprise. Leaving the islands? Really? Despite the danger that awaited them, a huge grin split his face at the thought of seeing the rest of the world. He glanced at his sister who seemed to be having the same thought he had. Wasting no time, the two siblings got up and quickly rushed outside after him.

 

**\--------**

 

Crash will never get used to teleporting. When their surroundings were engulfed in light and they appeared in a new place, Crash felt disoriented and nauseous.

 

Slowly recovering, Crash gazed around at the place Aku-Aku brought them to in awe and confusion. There was flashing machinery everywhere. It almost reminded him of Cortex’s lab, but it looked far more advanced. When he looked up, he got a clearer view of the stars than back at the beach.

 

Were they in space?

 

He let out a yelp when Coco nearly knocked him away in her rush. “This is so amazing!” she squealed as she ran around the place, her excitement matching one of a child in a candy store. She hurried over to the computer and began inspecting it. “This is even better than the one back at the castle! I _need_ to meet whoever made it!”

 

“Coco, remember who we came here for,” Aku-Aku reminded her.

 

“Oh, right. Sorry,” she replied sheepishly and began pressing buttons on the keyboard, watching as different areas and location appeared on the screen.

 

“Anyway, they called this place the Time Twister. It was built by an evil man my brother allied with named N. Tropy. Cortex and his minions have been using it to travel through time in their search for Power Crystals,” Aku-Aku explained.

 

“Wait, travel through….time? You mean all these places….” Coco murmured, as the screen showed a tower then tall stone statues in front of a palace. “But how can this machine do that?”

 

Aku-Aku frowned. “I’m….not really sure,” he flew over to one of bridges where the area was medieval themed. There were several large buttons on the floor. “I don’t how they do it, but I’ve seen them step on one of these buttons and then they somehow disappear in a flash of light,” he explained.

 

When he noticed the looks the two mutants were giving him, he sputtered. “Hey, it’s not like I could’ve gone over to ask them!”

 

Coco sighed and looked up at the screen. She gasped. “Guys, look!”

 

Her brother and Aku-Aku came over. There was no mistaking the two creatures on the screen. It was the Komodo Brothers wandering through a jungle. “They’re already ahead of us. We need to hurry!” Aku-Aku muttered.

 

“You two go. I’ll stay here to monitor everything,” Coco said.

 

Crash nodded and went over to the first area, hesitantly stepping on the first button with his foot. Gasping, he jumped back when a blue vortex of energy appeared in front of them.

 

Crash stared at the portal in awe as he felt the invisible pull of it, his hair and fur swaying.

 

“Let’s go,” Aku-Aku said as he flew into it. Crash gulped and slowly stepped forward.

 

“Crash!”

 

He looked back to his sister.

 

“Be careful, alright?” she called out.

 

Crash grinned and gave her a thumbs-up before he was sucked into the portal.

 

**\---------**

Crash screamed as he fell through the time stream, falling face-first on the other side. Pulling himself off the dirt, he looked around dizzily and his eyes widened.

 

Soft sunlight fell on the grassy fields that stretched further than he could see. Towers and castles stood far in the distance. Crash found himself momentarily breathless at the sight.

 

Aku-Aku was awed by the place too. He rarely got to leave Wumpa Island because of his duties. He quickly shook himself out of it. Now was not the time for that. They had a job to do. “Alright, Crash. Let’s start searchin- CRASH!” he called out when the bandicoot ran off giddily. _Not you too_. He sighed tiredly and flew after him.

 

Crash was gazing around with unconcealed joy, something always sparking his attention whenever he looked. He recalled seeing a place like this in one of the books in Cortex’s library, but now he was seeing it in real life and felt even more excited to explore it. He continued wandering around the fields, ignoring the calls of his guardian.

 

“Crash, listen!”

 

Crash stopped and pointed at a strange creature eating grass.

 

“That’s a goat, Crash,” Aku-Aku answered wearily. Crash murmured the name quietly to himself before rushing over toward it excitedly, but the mask stopped him.

 

“Crash, while I’m happy that you’re having fun, we shouldn’t be wasting any more time. Cortex’s minion might be closer to the crystal than we are!” Aku-Aku said, getting impatient.

 

Crash’s ears fell and he rubbed his neck sheepishly before turning around and returning to the pathway.

 

His feet created ripples in the water as he ran through the puddles, rushing past a colorful large tent. He was tempted to peek inside, but he could feel Aku-Aku’s watchful gaze on him and continued on his way.

 

Just then, he stopped when he saw a man in the middle of the road trying to pull a sword out of the ground. He was wearing armor and….glasses?

 

Raising an eyebrow, Crash exchanged looks with his guardian and walked over to help the man. However, as soon as the man saw him he gasped.

 

“You!” He began to struggle harder with his sword, much to their confusion, until he finally managed to free it. “How did you get here?” he growled, charging toward him and swinging his sword.

 

Crash cried out and rolled out of the way before the blade slice him.

 

“Hey, what are you doing!? We only wanted to help!” Aku-Aku exclaimed at the human.

 

But the man didn’t listen and attacked again. The bandicoot jumped back just in time to avoid the tip of the sword, watching as it sunk deep into the ground.

 

“Come on, not again!” The man muttered in annoyance and struggled to pull it out. Crash took the chance and knocked him away with a spin attack while he was distracted.

 

And that’s when it happened.

 

The two were expecting the man to fall down unconscious. Neither of me expected him to blow up as soon as he hit the ground. They stared at the broken robotic remains in shock.

 

“He…wasn’t real?” Aku-Aku said, brows furrowed in confusion. They immediately moved back when the remains of the android began to glow blue before disappearing in a flicker of light as if it was never there.

 

“Well…that was certainly odd,” Aku-Aku stated, knowing how much of an understatement that was. “We should get going,”

 

Crash silently agreed and began to walk away. He couldn’t help a shudder. Just for a moment back there, he had felt as though someone was watching him through the broken android’s eyes.

 

As they moved forward, Crash began to notice something weird. Some of the animals in the fields were acting strangely aggressive while the birds in the sky were flying in odd patterns.

 

Crash frowned and brought Aku-Aku’s attention to it.

 

“It’s probably because of the crystal,” he closed his eyes, focusing. “Yes, I can feel it. It is somewhere around here,” he said as they stopped in the middle of a bridge. Crash began to look around, doing his best to not miss anything that could give them a clue on where it was, but he saw nothing.

 

He made his way to the edge of the bridge and gazed down.

 

Aku-Aku noticed this and raised a brow. “Crash, what are you doing?”

 

Crash ignored the question and jumped down. He heard his guardian call his name in panic as he fell into the creek. It wasn’t that deep, only reaching his knees. He gazed around the shaded area and saw it. Something glowing faintly in the darkness. He made his way over there and pushed the rocks away, taking the crystal out.

 

Even though there was no light around them, the crystal managed to glow brightly and he felt almost captivated by its beauty. Memories of dark hands and pink flames then flashed in his mind and he looked away from the Power Crystal.

 

“Crash, are you okay?” He heard the mask call out. Crash made his way out of the shade and showed his finding to him, beaming.

 

“Oh, you found it!” Aku-Aku muttered, grinning proudly. “Well done, Crash!”

 

Crash rubbed the back of his neck at the praise, stuffing the crystal in his pocket and walking up the slope. Well, they got what they came here for. What now?

 

Aku-Aku noticed his confusion and spoke up. “I think I can sense another portal somewhere up ahead. We can use it to travel back,” he stated, recalling what N.Tropy said.

 

Nodding, Crash sprinted forward, avoiding a giant frog that lunged at him and punching away another android dressed as a wizard who shot balls of light at them.

 

Finally, he found himself in front of a castle, staring at the gate. He suddenly paused when a sound reached his ears and took a defensive stance as he turned around. He blinked when he saw it was a famer standing not far from where they were.

 

The man was staring at them with wide eyes, but he seemed to be an actual human, so Crash waved at him, causing the man to scream in terror and flee.

 

The bandicoot grimaced at this while Aku-Aku sighed. “Let’s just go,”

 

The portal opened as soon as they got close enough to it. Crash got one last glance at the place, feeling a little wistful for having to leave so soon and then jumped into it.

 

**XXXXXXXXXX**

 

Crash landed on his feet back at Time Twister and the portal disappeared.

 

Coco hurried over to them. “Nice work, you guys. I saw the whole thing!” she said excitedly. 

 

Crash smiled and pulled the crystal out of his pocket, examining it. It was beautiful and simply mesmerizing to look it. He felt like he could stare at it for hours!

 

“Alright, Crash. Give it to me so I can store it away,” Aku-Aku said. Crash froze up.

 

What?

 

“Crash, give me the crystal please,” Aku-Aku asked him again.

 

Crash frowned as he looked down at the crystal in his hands. But…but he just found it. Why did he have to give it away?

 

He then scowled. In fact, why should he hand it over to him? He was the one who found it, not Aku-Aku. It was only fair for him to keep it, right? This was his and those two should just their own and…and….

 

“Crash!”

 

He jerked back at the shout and saw the two staring at him with concern. “Are you okay, big brother?” Coco asked.

 

Crash blinked, unsure of what just happened or where all of that came from. Unsettled, he held the crystal out for his friend.

 

Aku-Aku eyed him for a moment before taking it with his magic. “Thank you,”

 

“Maybe you’re just tired from travelling through the portal, Crash,” Coco said, giving him a sympathetic look. “How about you rest before heading out again?”

 

Crash stared at his feet before deciding that maybe that was what he needed and nodded with a smile, following her to the control room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Random fact about me; N. Tropy is my favorite villain in the series after Dingodile.


	4. Into the Depths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, it’s been a while. Sorry this took some time, but I was busy with many things including my exams. Anyway, thanks for all the great reviews you left me on the previous chapter. A lot of things happen in this one so I hope you enjoy it!
> 
> Also, I want to let you guys know that I'm not going to cover all the areas that appear in the game because it will make the story way too long and will be very tedious for me to write. I'll try to include as many as I could though.

In a bright flash, Crash landed in the middle of a forest. For a moment, he thought he was sent back home, but he soon realized this wasn’t the same forest in Wumpa Island.

 

He got up and dusted himself. He could smell the sea so there must be a beach nearby.

 

“This way,” Aku-Aku said as he led him through the forest and went to hide behind a tree when they heard some voices nearby. They peeked around it to see some humans on the beach. Two men seemed to be talking together near a hut. Based on the way they were dressed, Crash could assume he didn’t travel very far back in time, but then again they might be android too for all he knew.

 

The two men picked up some items that he couldn’t identify and left.

 

Once he deemed it safe, Aku-Aku came out of hiding. “Alright, they’re gone,”

 

The two soon began searching the beach. Aku-Aku was inspecting the hut when he sensed a tug in the air. He got out and flew closer to the water, where the feeling grew stronger. It was then it finally dawned him. “The crystal isn’t here on this beach. It’s somewhere in the sea,” he stated, much to Crash’s surprise. “We need to find a way to get down there,”

 

Crash’s mind came to a screeching halt. Go into the sea? His eyes lingered on the blue waves. The very idea of diving into there was enough to make him dizzy.

 

“Ah-ha! These should do!” Aku-Aku exclaimed when he found some scuba diving gear. Those two men probably forgot them. “Come on, put them on. They will help you breathe under water,”

 

Hesitating, Crash did as he was told and began putting the gear on. Once he was done, he shuffled to the water, but when it moved closer to him he scurried back.

 

“Crash?” Aku-Aku called out, confused.

 

Crash shook his head frantically, refusing to go in.

 

“What’s wrong? It’s just water,”

 

Crash glanced at the sea and felt his stomach churn. In all those times he went to the sea in the past he had been drowning. He didn’t want to risk that again.  

 

Frowning, Aku-Aku tried to reason with him. “There is nothing to be afraid of, Crash. Look, I’ll prove it,” he said and dove into the water. Several seconds then passed without him coming out, which made Crash start panicking and worrying that something down there got him, but relief filled him when the guardian finally returned.

 

“See? I’m fine and I’ve checked to see if there is anything that could harm you down there. Trust me, you have nothing to be worried about,” he said, hoping that will be enough to reassure him.

 

Nervous, Crash stepped forward into the water until it reached his chest and began swimming away from the shore. Crash spent several minutes getting used to moving with the diving gear on before finally deciding it was time to search for the crystal.

 

Steeling himself, Crash dove into the water with Aku-Aku following him suit. Crash blinked and flailed around in panic momentarily, but then calmed down eventually.

 

His eyes scanned the surrounding area and then swam further down. Still getting used to moving underwater, he had a hard time getting himself to go in the direction he wanted.

 

“It’s somewhere down there,” Aku-Aku murmured, showing him the canyons below. 

 

Even though he wanted nothing more than to find that crystal and go back to land as fast as possible, Crash couldn’t help be awed by the sights underneath the ocean. He could see many coral reef colonies and colorful fish everywhere, leaving him breathless for a moment.

 

“Crash…”

 

He turned to his guardian’s call and blushed at the look he was giving him. He was clearly not planning on letting him get distracted this time. The mutant dove toward the canyons and began exploring them.

 

Just then, one fish in particular caught his eye. It was red and round, swimming in an odd way. Curious, he made his way over to it and tried to touch it. As soon as his hand got close to it, the fish doubled in size and sharp spikes shoot up from its body, startling the mutant and causing him to scramble back from it. The fish then somehow deflated itself and slowly swam away.  

 

Crash heard what sounded like a stifled laugh and his face burned, glaring at the mask behind him. Crash then came across a cave and hesitated to enter it. It was quite dark inside, so he couldn’t see much in there.

 

“Hold on, I think I can help,” his guardian flew over and his body began to glow, lighting up the path. Grinning behind his scuba mask, Crash sent him a grateful glance and then slipped into the cave.

 

The bandicoot shivered, feeling uncomfortable with being confined in such a tight space. For a brief second, he thought he felt something slither around his leg and pushed through faster.

 

Finally, the two came out on the other side. Some ship wreckage was not far from where they were, but something else caught their attention.

 

There was a yellow barrel covered with red spikes tied to a chain. They were many others like it ahead now that he paid attention.  

 

He turned to Aku-Aku who shrugged. “I don’t know what those are either,”

 

Even more curious now, Crash was about to go over to check it out when a small fish suddenly rushed past him and came in contact with the barrel, causing it to explode and knock the two back a little. They stood there, staring at the space where the mine had been stiffly.

 

“Oh dear,” The mask murmured shakily, knowing now that they will have to move past the rest of the mines without getting blown to pieces.

 

Gulping, Crash began to swim forward through the mines, heart hammering in his chest. He felt completely on edge the entire time. His blood ran cold when he noticed one of the mines moving closer to him and he forced himself to swim faster, his guardian sticking nervously to his side.

 

Finally, after several tense moments, he was out danger. Crash could have melted in relief if it had been possible.

 

“The crystal is somewhere in that ship over there,” Aku-Aku told him, staring at an old ship stuck between rocks.

 

**\---------**

Meanwhile, Cortex was sitting on a crate in the middle of a desert town with his two assistants were standing right next to him. People kept giving them weird looks whenever they passed them by.

 

“Wow, he has such a big head,” he heard a teen murmur, causing him to fume.

 

“This ‘big head’ has a brain three times bigger than yours!” Cortex snapped angrily. The teen stared at him with wide eyes before scurrying away.

 

Cortex sighed and slumped against the wall as he took out a napkin and whipped away the sweat from his forehead. _It’s hotter here than I imagined._ He thought in annoyance. The fact that the two men next to him were bickering like children didn’t help.

 

“Of course I’m the right one for this job. I have an entire fleet of battle ships back home under my command. _Do you have any idea what I can do with that!?_ ” N. Gin argued, shrieking the last part.

 

Brio scoffed. “Well, I am the one who created the Evolvo Ray, the very machine that Cortex used to create his mutant army _and_ I won that science contest that our class held back at the evil school!” he added smugly and N. Gin bristled.

 

“What!? That’s not fair! You can’t use that!”

 

Cortex groaned and rubbed his temples. _I’m going to have headaches for days, are I?_

 

Just then, an android came over to them and Cortex hopped off the crate. “Finally! So, did you find any crystals?”

 

“No, sir,” the android said, shaking his head.

 

“Then why are you here!?” he snapped and turned to his assistants. “Let’s just find the portal out of here. I can’t stand this place,”

 

He took out a device from his pocket and pressed a button, but it didn’t show him where the portal was. “Ugh, what is wrong with this thing?”

 

“Let me take a look at it, Dr. Cortex,” Brio said and walked over to take it from him.

 

“No, I’ll do it!” N. Gin muttered and hurried over as well. Both snatched the device from the man’s hands and glared at each other.

 

“Let go, I had it first!” N. Gin snapped and Brio growled.

 

“No, I’m Cortex’s main assistant and I should be the one to-”

 

The device suddenly slipped from Brio’s hand and hit the android on the head before falling on the ground. They stared at the dark screen in stunned silence.

 

“Great, if Uka-Uka had been here to see this, he would have set us on fire,” Cortex muttered.

 

“It was his fault!” Brio and N. Gin shouted simultaneously.

 

“Enough! You two _both_ will get that fixed right now so we can leave this place!” the doctor exclaimed and turned away from them. He was really starting to question why he agreed to bring them along in the first place.

 

Gazing around the area, Cortex spotted the pyramids far in the distance and the wheels in his head began turning. A mischievous grin spread across his face.

 

Well, since they were stuck here for now, they might as well make use of their time.  

 

**\---------**

****

Crash hurriedly swam away from the wreckage, grinning from ear-to-ear at their finding.

 

Despite being left there among the wreckage for what could be decades or more, the crystal still managed to maintain its beauty and captivating glow.

 

“Good work, Crash,” Aku-Aku said over his shoulder. “Now let’s get out of here. It’s not just you who wishes to go back to the surface,” he added with a grin and Crash nodded, his grip on the crystal tightening ever so slightly…

 

The mask then extended his senses to locate their exit out of this time period. “Alright now, let’s see. I believe the portal is….somewhere beyond those reefs,”

 

Wasting no time, Crash began heading in the direction he was told, but he stopped almost immediately.

 

“Crash, we still haven’t gotten there yet,” Aku-Aku stated in confusion.

 

The mutant ignored him and swam downward, having spotted something. He began digging in the sand until he found it, a white gem. Crash eyed it with awe and immediately showed it to his friend who blinked in surprise.

 

“Well, that’s a wonderful find, Crash,” Aku-Aku smiled back. “I wonder if it had fallen off that ship...?” the mask trailed off and his expression quickly became one of terror. “Crash, look out!”

 

Confused, the bandicoot turned around just in time to see a shark coming their way. Panicking, Crash cried out and swam as fast as he could.

 

“Hurry!” Aku-Aku screamed as the shark grew closer to them. Crash couldn’t imagine his heart beating any faster. He was moving on pure adrenaline. He could almost feel the predator’s sharp jaws right behind him.

 

They were suddenly caught in a bright flash of light and the feeling of water all around him disappeared. The next thing he knew, he landed on the floor back at the Time Twister with his scuba diving gear gone.

 

Coco quickly rushed across the bridge to greet them. “Crash, I’m so glad you’re- ahhhh!”

 

Coco’s scream startled Crash and when he followed her gaze, he screamed as well at the sight of the shark lying on the floor right behind him. The bandicoot scrambled away in terror as it squirmed forward, still intending on getting him.

 

The shark was suddenly lifted into the air by Aku-Aku’s magic and Coco hurried over, slamming her foot down on the button. The portal appeared again and the shark sucked back into it.

 

“Why…” Coco panted. “is that a thing that could happen?” She took a deep breath and placed her hand over her chest, sighing in relief. She then walked over and helped her brother up. “You okay, big brother?”

 

Crash nodded, still trying to catch his breath.

 

Aku-Aku then asked him to give him the crystal again. Crash bit his lip and clutched the crystal tightly in his hand. A part of him wanted to argue or come up with an excuse to convince Aku-Aku to leave it with him. He managed to keep safe all this time, right? It wouldn’t hurt to let him keep them all with him.

 

However, Crash quickly forced himself to hold it out before that feeling could spread further.

 

“Thank you,” Aku-Aku said. “Hey, what about that gem you found?”

 

Crash blinked, having completely forgotten about that. He took the gem out and smiled. It wasn’t as beautiful as the Power Crystal, but it still looked amazing to him.

 

“It’s a good thing that you found this, Crash,” the mask said.

 

“Why? I thought we were supposed to look for Power Crystals,” Coco asked.

 

“Well, while they are not as powerful as the crystals, they can still work as energy sources. Cortex will no doubt try to make of use of them if he found any. If you find more gems like this one during your travels then please bring them to me,” he requested.

 

Crash nodded and didn’t feel as reluctant to hand it over like the crystal, which was a relief. Aku-Aku and Coco then turned to discuss something while Crash stayed there.  

 

Still, the fact that he found both a Power Crystal _and_ a gem made quite him giddy. He couldn’t help it. He began doing a celebration dance on the spot.

 

Coco laughed when she spotted him doing that. “What was that weird dance all about?”   

 

Crash rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and shrugged. Not wanting to waste any more time here, he pressed another button. He ran over and jumped into the portal, but to their surprise he fell right through it and landed on the hard floor.

 

“What happened?” Coco asked, worried that something was wrong with the Time Twister. Just as she got closer to her brother, she felt herself being pulled toward the portal and screamed as she was sucked into it.

 

“Coco!” Aku-Aku gasped, flying right after her just before the time portal closed.

 

Crash sat there, stunned. He hurried over to the screen to see his sister fall somewhere in the middle of a road of some kind that was being constructed, looking around in confusion.

 

Well, this was…unexpected.

 

**\--------**

 

For the next hour, the two siblings proceeded gathering every crystal they found in each area. After Crash came back from the last one, he went to rest in the control room while Coco asked Aku-Aku to take her back home to get something.

 

Crash had been lying on the floor taking a nap when he suddenly heard a sudden noise. He tilted his head slightly to see his sister have returned with Aku-Aku, carrying some books with her.

 

“I don’t see why you would want to bring these here,” Aku-Aku said as she put them down on the floor.

 

“Hey, if we knew more about the place we’re going to then it could help us get around it easily,” she replied firmly, waving a book in front of him.

 

“Alright, alright,” Aku-Aku muttered tiredly, obviously not happy to have gone home and back just for books.

 

Crash cracked a small smile and was about to go back to sleep when Coco spoke up again. “Hey, Aku-Aku? I’ve been meaning to ask you something,”

 

“What is it?”

 

“What exactly are these Power Crystals we’re collecting and why are they so important?” she asked.

 

This got Crash’s attention. He had been wondering about that too actually.

 

 “Well, if you haven’t realized it yet when Crash went to that place with those giant lizards-”

 

“Dinosaurs,” Coco corrected.

 

“Yes, those. Power Crystals have existed for a very long time and contain mystical energies within them. I don’t really know what they are made of or where their powers come from. People back in my village used to believe that they are remains from the spirit energy of the people who used to live on the islands, but that’s what they believed anyway. While it’s very difficult to find one nowadays, they used to be many of them in the past, especially in mountains and caves,” he explained wistfully. “But we always warned everyone to stay from them,” he added, which surprised the two mutants.

 

“Why?” Coco asked.  

 

“Some believe these crystals can bring harm and disasters to people. I can’t really say if the powers they have are good or evil, but strange things often happen whenever a Power Crystal is around. Sometimes catastrophic even,”

 

Crash’s mind wandered back to that night when Cortex captured him and his sister. When he forced him into the Vortex while it was being powered by that crystal and the aftermath of that. The bandicoot found himself shivering.  

 

**\---------**

 

Crash and Aku-Aku later were standing in front of the energy barrier blocking their way to the next area.

 

“Did you find anything, Coco?” the mask called out.

 

“No, I can’t find anything in here on how to turn those barriers off,” the girl pulled away from the keyboard in frustration and walked over to them. “I don’t get it. How are we supposed to get there now?”

 

Crash rubbed his chin and then had an idea. He turned to the barrier and without a warning, he charged to toward it only to get zapped and knocked away.

 

“Are you alright?” His sister asked in concern. Crash gave her a dazed look and a thumbs-up.  

 

“Crash, that was very reckless of you! You could have gotten yourself hurt!” Aku-Aku scolded firmly.

 

“That just crosses out another way for us to get in,” she said with a frown.  

 

“I could try removing this door with my magic,” their guardian offered.

 

Coco winced. “I don’t think breaking a part of the machine is a good idea,”

 

The mask frowned. “But we need to continue our search for the crystals-”

 

“Hey!”

 

The two turned to see Crash back in the first area waving for them to come over. Confused, they hurried over to him and were surprised.

 

The buttons there were all gone. There was only one left now.

 

“Is…this supposed to happen?” Coco asked, inspecting it. There were a lot of things about this machine that confused the girl. The way it rejected Crash earlier and accepted her only further made her question how that man “N. Tropy” programmed it to work.

 

“I guess we should press it and see what happens,” she concluded, seeing as they had no other choice. Nodding, Crash stepped on the button and a new portal opened. Glancing back at her unsure, the bandicoot and the mask quickly jumped into it, landing in the middle of a colosseum.

 

His ears were immediately assaulted with the sound of cheers coming from everywhere. There were countless people watching him from their seats.

 

“Where are we?” Aku-Aku asked confused while Crash was obliviously waving back at the crowds with a grin.

 

“Well, how strange for us to meet again here,”

 

The two froze and looked up to see none other than Cortex sitting on a throne. He wasn’t wearing his lab coat, but some strange clothes that Crash didn’t recognize.

 

“When I first got those reports from those androids, I refused to believe it. It didn’t make any sense. There was no way for you to follow us through _time_ , but now I see how wrong I was,” Cortex said.

 

“Cortex, what have you done here?” Aku-Aku exclaimed, glaring at the man.

 

Cortex smirked. “Simple. All I had to do was show them my mutants and they were quick to let me rule over them. Fitting, isn’t it?” he said. “So, Crash. Tell me, how you’ve been? Having fun messing around with your friends after you destroyed everything I spent years working for?” Cortex asked bitterly.

 

Crash sneered at him.

 

“Actually, I’m glad you two joined us today. Seeing you get obliterated on these grounds will be the perfect revenge and entertainment for us!” he stated, grinning. He then snapped his fingers and it was in that moment Crash noticed the creature tied to the wall. It was Tiny.

 

The large mutant’s sharp eyes snapped open and he roared, tearing the chains off his hands. Glaring down viciously, the mutant grabbed a trident and jumped down.

 

Crash cried out and scrambled away as Tiny swung his weapon and nearly impaled him with it. Swinging his leg, Crash managed to kick him in the jaw. Tiny rubbed his face and snarled at him.

 

The bandicoot began running across the arena while the tiger chased after him.

 

“Come back here!” Tiny yelled. Crash shook his head frantically and continued running away.

 

“Enough! It’s time to release the lions!” Cortex exclaimed. Tiny looked back at him and then grinned knowingly at Crash before jumping back with Cortex.

 

“Release the what?” Aku-Aku muttered as he flew by Crash’s side.

 

Suddenly, the gates opened and the bandicoot’s hairs stood on end when low growls echoed from them. Eyes glared at him hungrily before several lions emerged from the darkness.

 

Crash backed away in terror as they stepped toward him, baring their teeth viciously. Lunging at him, Crash quickly moved out of their way. One tried to grab him, but he jumped on its head, landing behind it.

 

The lion shook its head and growled at him. Teeth chittering, Crash was pushed back into a corner as the lions circled him. The crowd’s cheers grew louder.

 

“Stay back!” Aku-Aku shouted and his body burst into light. The lions cried out as it blinded their eyes and were forced to return to their hiding places.

 

The crowds booed at this.

 

“Hey, we’re trying to survive here!” Aku-Aku muttered back at them.

 

The ground shook once more as Tiny fell into the hole with them. He jumped into the air and tried to crush the bandicoot under his feet. Crash fled and watched as the large mutant kept trying to squash him.

 

Finally growing tired of this, Tiny aimed his trident at Crash and dropped only for Crash to roll out of way, causing it to stick into the ground.

 

Crash was immediately reminded of the man with the sword and grinned. He rushed over and knocked Tiny away with a spin attack. The tiger stood there dizzy for a moment before collapsing on the ground.

 

Crash stood there stunned and was even more surprised when the crowd began cheering for him.

 

“Seriously?” Aku-Aku said, raising an eyebrow at them. Weren’t they rooting for their demise just seconds ago?

 

Crash stared at the fallen mutant questioningly before looking up and immediately noticing that the throne was empty. Cortex was nowhere to be seen.

 

Frowning, Crash decided to ignore that for the time being and waved back at the crowds until the portal finally appeared and took the two of them away.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I hope to get the next chapter much sooner than this was. As always, I appreciate all your feedback and support.


	5. Bitter Reunions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Thanks for all the positive feedback. Before we return to where we left off, I would like to explain something. If you read “Something About You” then you probably know that I won’t follow the game’s story completely because a lot people had already done that and it would make the fic predictable so be prepared for unexpected twists in the future. 
> 
> With that said, enjoy!

At his tower, N. Tropy was quietly tinkering with his machines. He pulled away from his chair and rubbed his tired eyes. Maybe a cup of tea later will help him focus, but not right now. He needed to check on the progress Cortex and his minions were making with the crystal gathering. It had been a while since the last time they called him.  

 

He walked up to the other side of the room where a large circular screen was on the wall. “Let’s see what they have been doing,” he murmured as he stepped on a button on the floor and the screen lit up, showing a town in the desert.

 

Rubbing his chin, he managed to spot some of the androids he sent among the crowds and on top of houses. Cortex and the other two men were nowhere to be seen though.

 

N. Tropy frowned and crossed his arms in annoyance. “Where are those three? Why aren’t they overseeing the search?”

 

He pressed the button again and it showed him the Egyptian pyramids. It took the man a few seconds to process what he was seeing and his jaw dropped. His scream echoed throughout the tower.  

 

_“COOORTEX!”_

 

\---------

Crash grinned when they walked back to the hub area to find the energy field to the next place was gone. This one seemed to be Arabian themed.

 

“I’m so excited, guys. It’s been only a few hours and I’ve seen more places than I have in my whole life!” Coco said, flipping frantically through a book in her hand.

 

Crash nodded in agreement.

 

“Let’s see what we will be dealing with,” The girl walked to a random button and pushed it to see what might be in store for them. She immediately recognized the area shown in the portal as somewhere in Egypt.

 

“Alright….” She began flipping through the history book in her hands.

 

“Summon the portal, Crash. We shouldn’t waste any more time,” Aku-Aku stated only find Crash playing with his yo-yo. “CRASH!”

 

With a yelp, the bandicoot ended up getting himself entangled in the string of his yo-yo.

 

“I can’t believe you brought that thing with you,” Aku-Aku sighed as Crash flashed him an embarrassed smile and freed himself. He wondered why these two keep getting distracted from the dangerous quest they were on.

 

A loud scream suddenly startled the two as Coco came running over to them, practically shoving her book in Crash’s face.

 

“Look at what he done!” she yelled.

 

Confused, Crash looked down at the page she was showing him and he rubbed his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing.

 

It was the picture of a sphinx with Cortex’s face.

 

“Um, Coco….what is this?” Aku-Aku asked, disturbed by the image while Crash shuddered.

 

“Cortex did this! He ruined it!” Coco shouted angrily. 

 

The mask frowned. “You mean this isn’t how it always looked?”

 

“I don’t know! I can’t remember!” she muttered in frustration, lightly hitting her forehead. “It has to be because Cortex is messing up everything. Every time he changes something it gets erased from our memories. I just know his stupid face doesn’t belong on that statue!”

 

Crash and Aku-Aku exchanged worried looks. The guardian’s expression turned grim. “This is a lot more dangerous than I previously thought. We must head out now before he causes any more damage.”

 

Crash nodded and quickly summoned the next portal.

 

“Crash, if you come across Cortex again make sure you punch him hard for me,” Coco called out, a fierce glint in her eyes.

 

Crash nodded nervously under her angry gaze and jumped into it, landing in an alley behind a building. It was quite sunny, even more so than back at the islands. He could hear someone playing music somewhere.

 

Crash turned around and looked up to the building. Maybe if they were on higher ground they will have a better view of the city. Plus, they can’t risk running into more humans of this time period and scaring them like last time.

 

Rubbing his hands together, he climbed onto to some wooden crates and jumped to grab onto a window. He pulled himself up and tried to balance himself. He looked about and then jumped onto another window’s awning, launching himself up into the air. He reached up to grab onto the edge of the roof, but he didn’t get far enough.

 

He fell through the air and bounced on the awning again, reaching higher this time and managing to grab on. Pulling himself up, Crash stood there for a moment, gazing around at the bustling city.

 

Crash glanced at Aku-Aku who was eyeing the street with an uneasy look on his face. “Aku-Aku?”

 

“Oh, I’m alright. It’s just….I’m sensing something off here. Please stay on your guard,” the mask replied.

 

Crash blinked, but nodded, feeling tense now. With that, the two began the search. Running over houses and jumping from one roof to another.

 

“Crash, look out,” his companion whispered. Crash glanced around the corner to see an android with a sword. He seemed to be guarding the area, occasionally swinging his sword through the air in boredom.

 

Crash remained crotched and slowly snuck behind the man when his back was turned. Just as the android was about to turn around, he was sent flying off the roof with a kick from the mutant. The bandicoot then kept going, taking down every android he came across.

 

“Wait, the crystal is…moving,” Aku-Aku said eventually, puzzled. Blinking, Crash looked around until he saw a man…flying on a carpet?

 

The man saw them while flying by and waved the crystal they were looking for tauntingly at them.

 

“Crash, stop him! He’s getting away with our crystal!” Aku-Aku exclaimed.

 

Crash snapped out of his shock and scrambled after him, jumping from one roof to another, desperately trying to grab him from his spot on the ground. The man remained high up away from his reach and laughing at his feeble attempts.

 

“Look, he’s heading down!”

 

Crash looked up ahead to see the man descending in an open area in the city where he can hear loud cries coming from down there. Confused, Crash raced to the edge of the house and looked down to see people running away.

 

It was the Komodo Brothers along a group of androids were standing in the center of the plaza. The mere sight of the anthropomorphic creatures alone was enough to send the humans running in fear. The thief who had their crystal was levitating down and handing it to them.

 

“Hey!” Crash yelled and hopped down onto some crates before landing on the ground.

 

“Well, look who is here,” Joe said.

 

“Give us back that crystal,” Aku-Aku demanded.

 

“Oh no. It’s _you_ who should be giving us the other crystals you took from us,” Moe replied, pointing an accusing finger at Crash who sneered at him.

 

Aku-Aku scowled and opened his mouth only to be cut off by another voice.

 

“You’re in no position to demand anything from us, **_brother_** ,”

 

In flash of red light, Uka-Uka materialized with the two brothers. The warm air around them went a bit chilly at his presence.

 

“Uka-Uka….” Aku-Aku murmured breathlessly, stunned at seeing his brother again after hundreds of years. He then scowled. “Why are you working with Cortex? What are you planning this time?”

 

“Oh, straight to the point, aren’t you. You’re not even going to welcome me after being gone for centuries,” his tone then turned venomous. “After all, it was you who sealed me away in that temple in the mountain,”

 

“I locked you away because you are a threat to all of us. Everything had been fine back then when we both guarded the island, but then you decided that wasn’t enough for you!” Aku-Aku snapped back. “At very least _I_ remained true to my duties as the island’s protector,”

 

His twin chuckled at this, much to his surprise. “Oh, have you? Because I’m certain all those bases and factories back there weren’t built by the villagers,” Uka-Uka muttered sarcastically and Aku-Aku’s eyes widened. “That’s right. I know all about how you failed to stop Cortex from conquering Wumpa Islands,”

 

Aku-Aku faltered briefly, but then composed himself. “That doesn’t matter. We saved them in the end, haven’t we?”

 

“Wrong! _He_ was the one who freed the islands,” Uka-Uka muttered, glaring at Crash who flinched under his gaze. “If he hadn’t showed up to you then the islands will still be under our control! You’re just as much a failure as Cortex!” he stated and laughed.  

 

Crash glanced worriedly at his guardian who was looking down in shame. Anger filling him, Crash clutched his fists and glared at the villains. Without thinking, he dashed toward them.

 

A guard quickly took out his sword and swung it. The bandicoot expected this and slid on the ground. One guard tried slashing at him, but Crash ducked, causing him to hit the other man. Sparks flew out of wound before he exploded into pieces. Crash immediately lunged and knocked the remaining one down.

 

The rest of the guards came rushing toward Crash, but Aku-Aku quickly threw himself over his face and his body began to glow. Without hesitation, the masked bandicoot charged at the androids, knocking every one that stood in his way. Some tried hitting him with their weapons, but they did him no harm. Soon he was surrounded by broken robotic remains.

 

It wasn’t long until Aku-Aku had to remove himself from his face. Crash then turned to the brothers who drew their swords. Joe ran over and began attacking Crash who could only back away and evade his slashes.

 

“Alright, traitor. Let’s see you dodge this!” Crash saw Moe had gathered up the fallen swords from the destroyed androids and had stuck to the ground around him. He then started throwing them at Crash one after the other.

 

Screaming, Crash scrambled to the side as the blades sliced through air and impaled anything they hit.

 

Once Moe ran out of swords to throw, Crash quickly picked up one of them and took a fighting stance. Joe rolled his eyes and scoffed. “Oh, come on! You’re terrible at using swords. My brother and I tried to teach you once and you nearly cut your own ears off!”

 

Crash blushed at the memory. He might had been the most agile and quick witted out of Cortex’s mutant team, but anything related to physical strength and weapons was always out of the question for him.

 

Joe lunged at Crash, waving his blade, but Crash sidestepped just in time and delivered a powerful kick to his back, sending him crashing into a store.

 

Moe charged at him next, but instead of fighting, Crash turned around and fled.

 

“Just wait until I get my claws on you!” Moe shouted as the bandicoot disappeared around a corner. When he made it there, he was surprised to find the alleyway empty. “Where did he- hey!” he cried out when a clay jar fell over him and he couldn’t get out of it. Crash jumped down from the roof and knocked the trapped mutant away with a spin attack.

 

Uka-Uka meanwhile was watching the fight, practically fuming. “Enough fooling around,” he growled and flew toward Crash.

 

“No, stay away from him!” Aku-Aku exclaimed, hurrying after him.

 

Crash sighed in relief at having survived that fight and held the crystal proudly in his hands, but when he turned around to return to Aku-Aku, he found himself facing the sinister gaze of the dark mask.

 

“I admit it. I wasn’t expecting you to defeat my minions all by yourself, but it’s about time someone put an end to you, nuisance,” Uka-Uka muttered darkly, eyes blazing.

 

Not knowing what to do, Crash turned around and scrambled away.

 

 **“Come back here!”** Uka-Uka’s booming voice echoed in the air.

 

Crash slipped between two houses and began running across the street as fast as he could. Glancing back, he saw the evil mask flying after him, a violent aura coming off him. Anything that he came close to exploded into pieces. The clay jars, the food stands. Everything.

 

Fearing for his life, Crash screwed his eyes shut and forced himself to run faster, feeling the ground shaking as the dark entity drew closer and closer. He was gradually running out of breath and didn’t know how long he can go one. Should he keep running? Find a place to hide in? Could he risk it?

 

Suddenly, Crash tripped over his foot and felt his heart skipped a beat as he rolled on the ground. Before he can pick himself up, Crash was lifted into the air where he was forced to face Uka-Uka.

 

“There we are. Did you really think you can escape me?” the mask asked with a malicious grin. He ripped the crystal out of Crash’s hand who yelled and struggled harder. “I want to see how you will wiggle your way out of this one, little worm,”

 

Crash kept trying to escape, but Uka-Uka’s invisible grip on him remained strong. In fact, Crash realized, it was getting tighter on him. He grimaced and grunted in pain. The mask’s cruel grin then fell for some reason and he eyed the bandicoot oddly as if seeing something that he couldn’t figure out.

 

A sudden blast of magic hit Uka-Uka and knocked him away, causing Crash to fall down along with the crystal, panting for breath. Aku-Aku came flying over to him.

 

“Hurry! Let’s go!” the mask muttered urgently. Crash quickly grabbed the crystal and sprinted away with his guardian.

 

Uka-Uka soon risen off the ground and looked around for the two, but he couldn’t sense them anywhere. Growling in frustration, the mask flew back to the mutant brothers.

 

**\---------**

 

“We’re back!” Aku-Aku called out once they returned to the Time Twister.

 

“Crash!” Coco came running over to them and threw her arms around her brother. “I saw what happened. Are you alright?” she asked worriedly.

 

Crash nodded.

 

She sighed in relief. “When I saw Uka-Uka capture, I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do,”

 

Crash flashed her a wide grin and gave her a pat on the shoulder. He then look over to Aku-Auk only to notice him looking downcast and remembered the exchange the two brothers had.

 

Coco and Crash glanced at each other, unsure of what to do. Crash nudged his sister since she was the one who usually knew what to say.

 

“Don’t believe what that jerk said, Aku-Aku. He was just trying to get to you. None of what he saying was true!” Coco said firmly.

 

“Huh? Oh, don’t worry about that, children. I’m fine,” he said reassuringly, but the two siblings didn’t feel that was true.

 

**\--------**

 

After travelling to many areas, Crash and his guardian landed in a snow covered land. The bandicoot’s arm immediately wrapped around his body as cold bit his skin.

 

Aku-Aku gazed around. There didn’t seem to be any towns or villages nearby. Just a frozen wasteland. From he could see, it was nighttime wherever they were.

 

He looked over to see Crash picking up a handful of snow and examining it curiously. It then struck him that this was the first time Crash was seeing snow.

 

“Let’s keep moving. It will be bad for you if we stay here for too long,” he said. As a spirit, Aku-Aku wasn’t bothered by the cold, but they need to get Crash out of here as soon as possible.

 

As they made their way across the snowy fields, the mask kept feeling Crash sending him worried glances. He knew he was probably still thinking about what happened in that city.

 

“Crash, I know you and your sister are worried about me, but really, I’m fine,” he stated. The bandicoot didn’t look convinced.

 

Aku-Aku sighed. “Listen, Crash. I may have great power and protecting the people on the islands is my job, but I failed to do that when they needed me. Uka-Uka was kind of right. I won’t deny that,”

 

Crash frowned, looking down at the ground quietly.

 

“I tried many times to fight Cortex’s armies off, but I never succeeded. Even the people who I was supposed to protect started to lose their trust in me. I just couldn’t do it no matter how hard I tried,” the mask continued as they entered an ice tunnel. “But then you came along and made me fight with you even when I thought it was hopeless,”

 

Crash looked up at his guardian who smiled at him. “I know I wasn’t exactly nice to you when we first met, but honestly….you coming to the islands was the first good thing that happened to us in years, Crash,”

 

Crash looked away at that and rubbed his neck before saying. “You helped too,”

 

Aku-Aku blinked and then chuckled. “Alright, I guess have,”

 

Crash gave him his usual grin and proceeded making his way through the tunnel.

 

**\-------**

 

Dingodile grumbled under his breath as he wandered the frozen wasteland with his companion in tow.

 

“I can’t believe it. How could he do this me? I worked with him for years. I helped him with all his experiments. It’s not fair!” Brio huffed as he walked behind him.

 

Dr. Cortex had the “brilliant” idea of sending each of his assistance to oversee the search with the other mutants, but Dingodile had the feeling the man had other motives behind that decision.

 

It was already bad enough he was sent to this location in particular. His reptilian side was beyond irritated by the cold and snow. Every so often he would light up his flamethrower to keep himself warm. The constant complaining behind him was starting to grind on his nerves as well.

 

Sighing, the mutant finally turned to the human. “Look, mate. How about we quit chatting and just focus on the job, okay?”

 

Brio blinked and huffed before taking out his crystal detector. “According to these readings I’m getting, there might be a crystal in this location somewhere,”

 

“Might be!?” Dingodile muttered in disbelief.

 

“I don’t know, but that’s what the detector says,” the man said, putting it back in his pocket.

 

Rubbing his face in frustration, Dingodile sighed again. “Alright, what do you suggest now, doc,”

 

“I say we split up to cover more ground,” the man replied. “I’ll come look for you once I’m done,”

 

“Sounds good to me,” Dingodile said. Even though Cortex was his creator, the mutant trusted N. Brio a bit more since he was the most rational out of the two. Not to mention, he will at least be spared from the man’s complaining now.

 

After a while, the mutant found a cavern and decided to explore it. Shivering a bit when a gust of wind came from the entrance, he headed deeper into the tunnel until he made it to what assumed be the end of the cave.

 

His eyes searched the place, but saw nothing except snow and ice. He then gazed up and was surprised by the sight many of colorful icicles decorating the celling. He almost mistook them for crystals for a brief moment and shook his head.  

 

“Nothing here,” he grumbled and then noticed something. A penguin was waddling by. A sharp grin spread across the mutant’s face. Well, since he didn’t find what he was looking for he might as well entertain himself.

 

He took out his flamethrower and aimed at the bird who immediately let out a frightened noise. Just before he could pull the trigger, he gasped in surprise when a snowball hit his face.

 

“Who threw that!?” he snarled and looked around until he saw Crash and Uka-Uka’s brother. The bandicoot was grinning mischievously.

 

“Well, well. It’s old my ‘pal’, Crash,” Dingodile placed his hand on his hip with a smirk. Almost sensing the tension in the air, the penguin quickly fled.

 

Crash’s face fell a little at the remark. He didn’t want to be reminded of his time in the castle or the fact that these mutants he had been fighting used to be his friends. Just remembering that made his chest tighten.

 

Dingodile eyed the bandicoot’s body with raised brow. “I see you’re back to normal again,” he said and then shrugged. “No matter. I’m not gonna waste time talking like before. Let’s just cut to the chase,” Dingodile jumped back and fired at the ceiling. “Get crushed!”

 

The large icicles broke off and began falling down. Crash and Aku-Aku cried out and scrambled back as massive ice shards fell all around them. One nearly got Crash if he hadn’t jumped away just in time.

 

When Crash pulled himself up, he saw the cave had become like a labyrinth. A sudden fire blast blew through an icicle, startling Crash.

 

“Oh, Craaash. Come out…..” Dingodile drawled. The bandicoot quickly slapped his mouth closed and got into a crouching position, slowly sneaking away from where he assumed the other mutant was standing.

 

This was really bad. He couldn’t approach the mutant while he still had that flamethrower, but at the same time he couldn’t see the tunnel he came from, so escaping was out of the question.

 

The sound of the other mutant’s footsteps reached Crash’s ears and he was forced to move around quietly to remain out of his sight. He got a glimpse of Dingodile’s reflection ahead and went still. Heart racing, the bandicoot gasped when another blast tore through some icicles far too close to him. He looked over to Aku-Aku for help.

 

“Wait here. I’ll take a look,” Aku-Aku whispered and Crash nodded. The mask rose up just enough to peek over the icicle only to duck down immediately just as the upper part of it was blown away.

 

“Found you!”

 

“Sorry, sorry! That was a terrible idea! _RUN!_ ” Aku-Aku stammered frantically.

 

Dingodile pointed upward and launched several fire balls into the air where the two were hiding. Crash nearly slipped as he dashed out of the way, forcing himself out of hiding.

 

“There you are!” Dingodile exclaimed and took aim.

 

Crash slid on the ground to another hiding spot just as the blast nearly grazed him.

 

Dingodile tried firing again, but his flamethrower didn’t work. “Huh?”

 

“Quickly, now is your chance!” Aku-Aku muttered. Wasting no time, Crash sprinted to the center of cave. When Dingodile saw him coming, he swung his weapon at him, but Crash evaded the attack and hit him with a spin attack, sending him tumbling on his belly.

 

Dingodile grunted and tried to get up when the sound of an alarm began coming off the tank on his back. “Oh no,”

 

Realizing whatever that sound was had to be bad for them, Crash turned and ran away just as the tank exploded.

 

He then looked back to see Dingodile laying on the ground with his fur covered in ash, but he still seemed to be alive.

 

The penguin from earlier suddenly raced past Crash and began jumping on the defeated mutant’s back. The two barely stifled their laughter as the portal appeared behind them and took them away.

 

Brio had been on his way back, having found nothing when he heard the sounds of the blasts and hurried into the tunnel. Once he got there, he found place completely wrecked with a little penguin bouncing over Dingodile’s back.

 

“You…were defeated by that penguin?”

 

“What?! NO!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. The fight was Dingodile is actually my favorite one in the game so I enjoyed creating my own interpretation of it.


	6. Collapse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I’m finally over my writer’s block. I hope you enjoy this. The level that’s going to appear in this chapter is probably my least favorite one in the game, mainly because I wasn’t very good at it. XD
> 
> Also, heads up. This is going to be an intense chapter so be prepared.

Coco was sitting in her corner surrounded by her books. She was flipping through the pages of one, groaning every time she came across a picture of Cortex in a painting or a stone carving. Coco dropped the book in her lap in frustration. “That maniac! If I get my hands on him I’ll….” She made a frustrated noise, bringing her hands and squeezing tightly.

 

Suddenly, she gasped and pulled her book to her chest when Crash came running over to her, tripping over a pile of books and landing on his face. He didn’t seem bothered by it the slightest as an excited grin remained plastered over his face.

 

“Crash, be careful!” she muttered in annoyance. Crash ignored that and grabbed her by the hand, pulling her away from her books.

 

“H-hey, what are you doing?!” she stammered.

 

Crash placed a finger over his mouth and made a shushing noise, her annoyance not dampening his excitement at all.

 

Giving up, Coco let her brother lead her to the center of the hub.

 

“Okay, what did you want to show me?” Coco asked tiredly.

 

Crash then stomped his foot on the floor twice and the circle they were standing on began descending down, much to Coco’s surprise.

 

What was even more surprising was what she found down below. She would have never thought a secret room would be hidden underneath their feet this whole time.

 

Once they reached the floor, Coco looked around and her eyes widened when she saw androids hanging by hooks being carried down a belt. Each one was wearing a different outfit.

 

“This must be where all the androids come from…” Coco murmured and Crash nodded. The two walked over and pressed their faces against the glass.

 

Coco frowned. “You know, it just realized something. These robots are supposed to infiltrate, blend in and stuff like that, right?”

 

Crash thought for a second then nodded at her.

 

“Then why do they make them to look exactly the same? How does that even supposed to work? We’ll immediately know who they are with just a glance!” Coco huffed. “Are they just that lazy to not make them a bit more indistinguishable?”

 

“Eh,” Crash shrugged.

 

“But why were you so excited about showing me this?” she asked, turning to him.

 

Crash grinned and bent down, picking a wrench from the floor. He then gestured with his head to the androids with a mischievous grin.

 

“What? No, no, no. You can’t destroy this place,” Coco stated, though she found it hard not to giggle at his enthusiasm in going through with this.

 

Crash pouted. “Why?”

 

“Because anything in this room could be essential for the Time Twister for all we know. I don’t fully know how this machine was designed yet. If you smash something here, it might stop working for us,” she explained.

 

“Aw,” Crash’s shoulder slumped and he dropped the wrench on the floor in disappointment.

 

Coco smiled. “But hey. Once we’re done with all of this, you can come back and do whatever you want,”

 

That immediately made him perk up and he nodded frantically.

 

“Children, where are you?” Aku-Aku’s voice came from above.

 

“Come on, let’s head back up,” Coco made her way back to the pod and her brother followed suit, leaving the secret room behind.

**\-------**

Crash fell out of the time portal in front of a road in the middle of a desert wasteland. He looked around to see nothing but cactus and rocks. The road itself seemed to go on for miles. A few cars suddenly sped by, blowing dust into their faces.

 

“How rude,” Aku-Aku muttered as Crash coughed and waved his hand around. He watched as they disappeared into the distance and wondered why they were driving so fast.

 

The two continued walking down the road until a gas station came into view. The two were relieved. At least they hadn’t ended up in a place far from civilization like last time.

 

Crash then saw a poster pinned to a utility pole. Curious, he jumped and ripped it off to read it.

 

It appeared to be a poster for a race that will happen this afternoon, but what caught Crash’s attention was the picture of the prize below the announcement. There was no mistaking it. It was the crystal they were looking for.

 

“Again?” Aku-Aku sighed. “But we don’t have the means to get into the race like before,”

 

Crash frowned. Last time this happened, they were lucky enough to fall near a bike. Their first attempt didn’t go so well as anyone would imagine. 

 

_“Crash, do you even how to drive this….thing?” Aku-Aku asked, eyeing the bike with a raised brow._

_Crash paused. Well, he had seen it in a movie back in the castle once. It didn’t look that hard. Giving the mask a thumbs-up, he got onto the bike and started the engine before hitting the gas._

_Without a warning, the bike burst forward, taking the screaming bandicoot away into the distance._

_“Crash!” Aku-Aku yelled in panic and flew after him._

 

Crash shuddered at the memory and stuffed the poster into his pocket. Not knowing what to do next, the two made their way over to a nearby gas station. Crash spotted something that sparked his interest and quickly ran over to it.

 

“Crash? Where are you going?” Aku-Aku called out, but Crash disappeared around a corner. The mask sighed. He really wished the bandicoot would stop running off like that. It was already dangerous enough with Cortex’s minions hiding in every corner, but even humans were a danger to the two bandicoots. He grimaced at the thought of one of them getting captured and taken away from him.  

 

He was snapped out of his musings by the sound of voices nearby. He looked over and gasped at the sight of Cortex’s androids by the gas station, filling their cars. They must have found out about the race too.

 

“Hey,”

 

Flinching, Aku-Aku turned and stiffened. Crash was making his way over to him with a motorbike….wearing shades and a leatherjacket.

 

“Where- where did you get all of this?” Aku-Aku asked, unable to process what he was seeing.

 

Crash pointed to a diner behind him and then proceeded to walk away with the bike.

 

“What? Crash, you can’t be serious about that!” Aku-Aku muttered, not happy with the idea of him taking something that didn’t belong to them without asking.

 

Crash frowned and glared at him from behind his shades. He pretended to put on something and swim around then pointed at him.

 

Aku-Aku winced. “Well, yes. Taking the diving equipment was my idea, but….” He struggled to find an excuse and then sighed in defeat. “Just make sure it doesn’t get damaged,”

 

Crash nodded and walked away while the weary mask trailed behind him.

 

**\-------**

 

The time of the race had finally come. Crash pushed his bike toward the start line, receiving all sorts of angry and dangerous glares from the android racers, but Crash wasn’t deterred the slightest by this and was even beaming as he got onto the bike.

 

“Why am I always the one doing all the worrying?” the mask sighed and stuck closely to the mutant. Crash wasn’t given enough time to practice driving that thing. In fact in the previous race he nearly got hurt multiple times and almost lost, but he wanted to believe he got the hang of it now and there was no reason for him to worry.

 

A human then showed up and cleared his throat. “Alright, listen up. The race is going to start soon,” he announced, reaching into his pocket and taking out the pink crystal. “Whoever gets first place will have this beauty,” he said, smirking. He then noticed Crash and raised a brow. “Nice, um, costume?”

 

With that, the man walked away, leaving Crash and Aku-Aku confused.

 

“He…thinks you’re in a costume?” Aku-Aku muttered and Crash looked down at himself. “Wait, is that why everyone was fine with you in the first race?!”

 

The mask had been baffled by the humans’ odd acceptance of a mutant bandicoot getting into their race when they should’ve been terrified out of their minds.

 

Speaking of baffling…“And how come neither times did these people feel bothered by the fact that all other participants look exactly the same?” he said, looking around at the androids. 

 

Shrugging his shoulders, Crash tightened his grip on the handles and faced the track, stealing himself. Everyone started their engines and soon enough, they blasted off.

Not long after the race began did the two started encountering problems. There were holes in the road, ramps and even certain points where the road broken off completely. “Who made these tracks?!” Aku-Aku exclaimed as Crash jumped over another ramp.

 

Crash moved out of the way just as an android tried to knock him off the track. The two then turned their attention to the road and spotted something green up ahead.

 

“Wait…is that?”

 

Crash cried out and swerved to the left to avoid running into some nitro crates. The android however wasn’t so lucky and screamed as he ran into one and blew up.

 

“How did these get here?” Aku-Aku muttered, shakily. They didn’t have to time to think as more crates showed up ahead. Panicking, Crash gritted his teeth and did his best maneuvering around them. He heard explosion noises behind him and knew the other android racers were obliterated.

 

Panting, Crash momentarily felt relieved at having survived that, but then he crazed laughter reached his ears and a chill ran through him.

 

Aku-Aku soon heard it too and stiffened. “Oh no….”

 

It didn’t take long for them to see him. Ripper-Roo was standing not far ahead on the side of the road. The crazy mutant let out another shrill laugh before jumping up and landing on their bike.

 

Crash screamed as the kangaroo latched onto him and bit his shoulder, causing him to lose control of the bike.

 

“Look out!” Aku-Aku cried in alarm.

 

Crash began swerving randomly on the track, nearly running into the explosives set by Ripper-Roo. The insane mutant meanwhile kept trying to get him do just that.

 

“Why is he doing this? He’s going to get hurt too!” Aku-Aku muttered, not knowing what to do.

 

Panicking, Crash tried pushing him off and regaining control of the bike, but the other won’t let go and tried making him fall off.

 

Suddenly, Aku-Aku flew past them and came rushing back. “Duck!” Crash did just that and the mask head-butted Ripper-Roo, knocking the mutant off the bike.

 

Once Crash got it under control again and tension melted away from them, Crash spared the mask a silent glance.

 

“I panicked. It was the first thing that came to my mind,” Aku-Aku said solemnly, not looking at him. “Never mention this to anyone, alright?”

 

“Coco’s watching,” Crash said, stifling a laugh.

 

“Oh, never mind then,”

 

Whatever relief they were feeling was gone in an instant the moment they saw the tall wall of TNT blocking the road, no doubt courtesy of Ripper-Roo. There was no way to avoid it and stopping meant losing the race.

 

“Hold on!” Aku-Aku exclaimed, throwing himself on Crash’s face and creating a glowing barrier around him. Without stopping, Crash cut through the wall, creating a massive explosion. The mutant was not harmed by it though.

 

The racer in first place was soon within their sight, but so was the finish line. Crash gritted his teeth. He couldn’t let him win. He couldn’t let him have the crystal.

 

No matter the cost.

 

The guardian’s magic gave him enough speed to reach the car and he knocked it off the track, sending it crashing into a cactus. Passing the finish line, Aku-Aku moved off Crash’s face.

 

“That was a bit brash, don’t you think?” he asked, unable to hide his unease and Crash shrugged. It didn’t matter. They won, didn’t they?

 

His guardian was about to say more, but then quickly disappeared when the man approached them to hand him over the crystal.

 

“Here you go. It’s yours to keep now, pal,”

 

Crash took the crystal, grinning widely. He actually did it. He had the crystal. It was his now.

 

His and no one else.

 

The two soon left and returned to the Time Twister.

 

“Finally, I hope we don’t have to do that again,” Aku-Aku said only to see Coco with a teasing glint in her eyes.

 

“So…”

 

“No, no! Don’t even ask,” he muttered and she laughed.

 

“Why didn’t you just use your magic?

 

He groaned. “I panicked and didn’t think, alright? Now can we please forget about-” he was cut off by the sound of another portal opening and looked back to see Crash jumping into it. “Wait, we haven’t even rested! Crash!” He called out and flew after him.

 

**\-------**

 

Cortex was pacing back and forth on the roof of an old temple, waiting for his henchmen to return. Soon, his two assistants along with Dingodile and Pinstripe came back. He was quick to ask. “So? How did it go?”

 

N.Gin shook his head. “The Power Crystal signal was gone by the time we got there,”

 

“Oh, that’s a shame,” Brio said pleasantly, earning a glare from N. Gin. “Because Dingodile and I _did_ in fact find our crystal,”

 

Cortex’s face lit up. “Splendid! Give it to me!”

 

“and it’s in the bottom of a frozen sea,” Brio added with a wince.

 

Cortex stared at him for a moment and then buried his face in his hands. “Can I rely on you all for anything?!” he exclaimed, rubbing his temples in frustration. The search wasn’t going like he planned at all.

 

“By the way, N. Tropy kept calling us,” Pinstripe stated, holding the fixed communication device. “He’s still….angry with you,”

 

Cortex rolled his eyes. “Seriously? You would think he calmed down by now,”

 

“Sir, you told him you wouldn’t mess with the past, remember?” Brio said, frowning. “We went against his wishes more than once,”

 

“More than once? When did I-”

 

“Rome, sir.”

 

“Oh, right. Well, it doesn’t matter. He will get over it eventually,” he said, waving his hand causally. “Anyway, we can’t let Uka-Uka know about our lack of progress. If he asks tell him we’re doing just fine,”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

Cortex shrieked at the voice behind him and turned to see the dark mask. “M-Master Uka-Uka, I…we-”

 

“So, you were planning to lie to me, Cortex?” Uka-Uka asked, tone overly pleasant.

 

“No! Of course not!”

 

“Good. Then can you explain to me where are the crystals that you’re supposed to have collected!” the mask snapped, dropping his happy facade.

 

“Assistants, help me out…” Cortex whispered behind him only to see them and the others have retreated far from him. _Those Cowards!_

The mask huffed impatiently. “Well?”

 

Cortex flinched and turned to him with a nervous grin. “Currently, we have…..no crystals yet,”

 

 Uka-Uka’s face darkened and his eyes flared, causing the wind around them to pick up. “I can’t believe it! I brought N.Tropy to you, given you access to any point in _history_ and yet you still find ways to fail at something so simple!”

 

Cortex huffed. “Pardon me, but I’m doing all I can to get this done. It’s these fools who can’t accomplish anything,”

 

“Hey!”

 

“You say that yet you’re the one who created and hired them,” Uka-Uka deadpanned. Cortex slumped and glared behind him when he heard a chuckle.

 

“W-well, there is also Crash and his sister. No matter what we do, they keep getting in our way!” he stammered, diverting their attention from him.

 

“But how are they here to begin with? Not even I or my traitorous brother have the power to travel through time,” Uka-Uka said.

 

“I don’t know. They shouldn’t have been able to follow us and find the crystal like this, not unless….” Cortex trailed off and his eyes widened.

 

**\-----**

 

N.Tropy marched up a metal staircase and began tinkering with the clocks on the walls of his tower, trying to distract himself from the mess Cortex and his minions had created.

 

 _Idiot._ He should have known that fool would pull something like that. Trusting him was a huge mistake on N. Tropy’s part, and as much as he wanted to, he couldn’t head to the Time Twister _right this instant_ and force them back. He made a deal with Uka-Uka to help him find the Power Crystals.

 

Based on the signals alone, N. Tropy knew those crystals contained unfathomable amounts of energy. With them, he will be able to expand his power and control through the time stream. “If that fool changes anything again though, I will personally go there and beat him with my staff,” he growled under his breath.

 

Suddenly, the unmistakable sound of a portal opening reached his ears and he turned around to see Crash and his guardian down below. Anger flared within the man before masking it with a smile. “Oh, Crash Bandicoot. Just the mutant I was hoping to meet,” he grinned and gave a slow nod. “You may know me as N.Tropy,”

 

Crash’s eyes widened at finally meeting him while Aku-Aku glared at him warily.

 

“You probably know me as the creator of the Time Twister,” his face then darkened. “The very machine that you apparently have been messing with without my knowledge!”

 

The man walked down the staircase and held out his staff. “I’ll make sure you all pay for that,” he said venomously and with that, he slammed his staff down. The noise was so loud it made Crash cover his ears.

 

When he opened his eyes, he gasped. The floor beneath him had changed. He was standing on a wide, floating platform now.

 

N.Tropy was standing on the other side, grinning. He was clearly enjoying his panic.

 

“Surprised? Let’s see then how you handle this,” the man charged a glowing ball on one end of his staff and flung it at Crash, a sharp noise coming off from it.

 

Crash tried moving to the side, but to his surprise, the orb did the same. Panicking, he scrambled back as the orb remained locked onto him and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid it. The orb hit the wall instead and disintegrated the spot it touched.  

 

Without thinking, Crash charged at N. Tropy and tried to punch him, but the man vanished just before he could. “Huh?”

 

“Behind you!”

 

Aku-Aku’s call came too late. Before he can react, N. Tropy kicked the bandicoot away, sending him tumbling across the platform and nearly falling off. The man didn’t wait for him to recover as he fired two more orbs. Crash managed to dodge the first, but the second one managed to graze his arm, causing him to gasp in pain.

 

“Crash!” Aku-Aku muttered, worriedly.

 

Crash held his arm, wincing and glaring at the laughing man.

 

“Tired already? Because this has only just begun,” N. Tropy then held his staff horizontally and charged it up before shooting bolts of energy toward Crash in the form of waves. Crash could only jump and duck to avoid getting incinerated by them.

 

The man kept changing the position of his staff, growing frustrated. “Stand still!”

 

Crash ran across the room, avoiding a vertical wave of energy and sliding just in time for a horizontal one to miss him. He then pulled himself up, panting and sneering at the man.

 

“Stubborn little thing, aren’t you?” N. Tropy growled. Crash ignored that and dashed toward him, but he ended up vanishing again.

 

This was going nowhere. Crash couldn’t even touch him and yet he was repeatedly getting kicked around.  

 

“I’m through playing games with you,” Raising his staff, N. Tropy dropped it down and the floor beneath them flickered, breaking into pieces. Crash yelped, looking around in confusion.  

 

The man then fired at the abyss below them and a massive blue vortex appeared.

 

“How is he doing all of this?” Aku-Aku asked, astounded.

 

“It’s time someone actually disposed of you for good…” N.Tropy panted, looking drained from what he did. 

 

The platform underneath Crash began shaking. Realizing what was about to happen, the bandicoot quickly jumped over to another. He gritted his teeth when the same thing happened again. Seeing that the one N.Tropy was standing on wasn’t collapsing, he began leaping over toward him.

 

“Stay back!” Landing on the same platform with N.Tropy, the man tried hitting Crash with his staff, but Crash managed to grab it. Thanks to his weakened state, the mutant managed to yank it from the man’s hands and smacked him with it, sending him falling down.

N.Tropy screamed as he fell through the air and disappeared into the vortex. Crash dropped the staff and looked around to see the rest of the building being pulled into it piece by piece. Wherever that vortex led, he didn’t want to find out.

 

Fortunately, the time portal appeared and took him away just in time.

 

**\------**

 

“Well done, guys. Now we can move on to the fourth area,” Coco said, watching the screen with Aku-Aku. “Hey, what’s Crash doing right now?”

 

“I left him with some Wumpa fruit to help him with his injuries,” the mask replied and then frowned as if recalling something.

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

“Oh, nothing. I just realized that I didn’t take the crystal we got from the race,” he answered and headed over to Crash who seemed to be examining said crystal.

 

“Crash, you forgot to give me the crystal,” Aku-Aku said with a smile, but the bandicoot ignored him.

 

Coco giggled and approached him. “Crash, I know the crystal is pretty, but you have to give it to Aku-Aku so he can store it with the othe-”

 

 Crash immediately slapped her hand away when she tried taking it from him. The two could only stand there, stunned by what he did.

 

“Hey, what was that all about….” Coco was ready to scold him for that, but she trailed off when she saw his face. Crash’s eyes were cold, vicious. Seeing her goofy, carefree brother looking at them like that sent a chill down her spine. Something was very wrong.

 

“Crash, what has gotten into you?” Their guardian asked.

 

“Mine,” Crash muttered, clutching the crystal tightly in his hand as if his life depended on it.

 

“Aku-Aku, what’s wrong with him?” Coco asked, taking a step back.

 

“I don’t know, but we need to get that crystal away from him,” Aku-Aku said and flew over, calling for his magic. Crash was suddenly lifted into the air and the crystal was pulled out of his hand.

 

Aku-Aku was about to store it away when Crash’s foot collided with his face and sent him flying across the room. Landing on the floor, Crash snatched the crystal, smirking victoriously.

 

“Aku-Aku!” Coco cried out and scowled at her brother. “Crash, if you won’t hand over that crystal then I’ll have to take it myself,”

 

Crash growled, as if daring her to try.

 

“Fine, you leave me no choice then,” Without a second thought, Coco charged at Crash. He tried smacking her away with his fist, but she ducked and got a hold of the crystal. “Ugh. Crash…. _snap out of it!_ ” Coco shouted as she tried pulling the crystal away from him, but her brother’s grip on it was strong.

 

Crash then knocked her off him, but she refused to give up. She ran over and slammed into him, causing the crystal to slip from his hand and roll on the floor.

 

“No!” Without hesitation, they rushed over and leapt to get their hands on the crystal first. Both getting a hold of it at the same time, the two siblings began wrestling on the floor for the crystal. Crash threw his hand over her face and tried pushing her away.

 

“Let go of it! Now!” Coco yelled, maintaining her grip on the Power Crystal. She suddenly managed to yank it out of his hands and backed away, holding it close to her chest. Crash glared at her darkly and snarled.

 

“Crash, stop. This crystal is messing with your head!” Coco exclaimed, hoping her words would get through him, but the other mutant didn’t seem to acknowledge anything she was saying. His eyes were only set on the crystal in her hands.

 

Crash lunged at Coco. On instinct, the girl reacted by kicking him away, sending him crashing into the computer keyboard. Sparks shoot out of it briefly

 

Crash’s vision doubled over as he fell on the floor. A voice calling his name was the last thing he heard before everything blackened.

 

**\------**

 

Crash blinked and groggily tried to rub his sore head, but then he realized something. He couldn’t move his hands. Crash looked down at himself and gasped.

 

His arms were tied together!

 

“Aku-Aku, he’s awake!”

 

Crash stopped struggling and looked up to see Coco and Aku-Aku looking down at him cautiously. His sister was clutching a book in her hands defensively.

 

“Crash?” she muttered, eyeing him carefully.

 

“What?” Crash asked, genuinely confused by what’s happening.

 

The two immediately looked relieved for some reason. “Sorry about the ropes, big brother,” Coco said, rubbing the back of her head tiredly. “But we needed to make sure you won’t try anything,”

 

“Huh?”

 

The two exchanged uneasy looks. “Crash, you remember what happened after we defeated N. Tropy, right?” Aku-Aku asked him.

 

Crash frowned, brows furrowed as thought deeply about the question. The fogginess in his mind then slowly dispersed and it all came back. He remembered now. The fight between him and his sister flashed in his mind and he felt his stomach turn.

 

He nodded quietly and the two seemed to relax a bit.

 

“Okay, so we know the crystal is involved in what happened, but why?” Coco asked.

 

 

“I’ve thought about it…and I believe I figured out something. It might have something to do with the second Vortex incident,”

 

Coco stiffened. “You mean when…..”

 

Aku-Aku nodded. “Perhaps his previous exposure to their energy is making him behave like that around them now,”

 

Crash gulped as he remembered what happened that night and what Cortex did to him. Once that power disappeared, he thought it was gone for good, but now he knew he was wrong.

 

“But you know a lot of stuff, Aku-Aku. There is a way to fix this, right?” Coco asked hopefully.

 

“Not one I know of,” he answered with a shake of his head and Coco’s shoulders sagged in despair. “What about the search though? We still need to collect the other crystals before Cortex does,”

 

“Obviously, we need to send him home,” Coco said. Crash gasped and shook his head frantically, not wanting to leave them after getting this far. “Crash, you can’t stay here. Think about what could happen,” Coco reasoned.

 

“No!” Crash shook his stubbornly. He couldn’t just wait back home while the two face Cortex’s minions by themselves. He wanted to help.

 

“I think sending Crash away is not a good idea too,” Aku-Aku stated.

 

Coco stared at him in disbelief. “What? You can’t seriously be thinking about letting him find more crystals. What if it gets worse? We’re lucky we’re talking to him normally right now. We can’t send him back out there!” she said disapprovingly. “Look, there are only two more areas left. I can finish them on my own,”

 

“But what if the Time Twister rejects you?”

 

Coco paused, having forgotten about that.

 

“Listen, maybe we can find a way around that. What if I store the crystal immediately without having Crash being near it,” Aku-Aku offered.

 

Coco frowned. It didn’t sound all that safe and there were plenty of ways it could go wrong, but right now they had no choice. “Alright, fine,”

 

Crash smiled, relieved that he won’t be sent away. Coco came over and untied him.

 

Suddenly, loud peeping came from the computer.

 

“Coco? Why is it making that noise?” Aku-Aku asked.

 

“I…I think we’re getting a call,” Coco walked over and pressed a button only to be startled by Cortex wearing Uka-Uka, eyes gleaming with malice. **_“You little imbeciles! You’ll pay for messing with my plans. Once I find you, I’ll make the rest of your days nothing but pure agony!”_**

 

With that, the mask was shaken off Cortex’s face who shuddered. “Crash, Coco. You have no idea what you’ve just done. The Time Twister is a delicate machine. Without N. Tropy’s care and attention, there is no knowing what will happen. You need to stop what you’re doing now,” he explained.

 

Coco raised a brow. “Didn’t you want us to stop before so you can have all the crystals?” she asked skeptically.

 

“Oh. Well, yes actually-”

 

“Nice try, Cortex,” Coco pressed a button and ended the call before Cortex can say more. “He’s just trying to scare us so we will stop foiling his plans,”

 

“Probably,” Aku-Aku said, having not forgotten all those times Cortex manipulated people to get what he wanted.

 

“Well, it’s time you head to the next place I guess,” Coco said, still a bit hesitant.

 

Crash gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder and hurried over to the button. He stepped on it and waited.

 

But nothing happened.

 

Crash blinked and scratched his head before glancing back at Coco in confusion.

 

“Hold on, let me check. Maybe there is a delay or something,” Coco said and began typing on the keyboard.

 

Frowning, Crash began jumping on the button over and over impatiently until the portal finally appeared. In that same moment, sparks shot out of the keyboard again and the screen began flashing warnings. Coco backed away, startled.

 

“What?”

 

Crash, meanwhile, was oblivious to what was happening with her and jumped into the portal. Nothing prepared them for what happened next.

 

Crash didn’t pass through the portal. Instead he screamed loudly as bolts of electricity coursed his body and was blinded by pain.

 

 _“CRASH!”_ Coco and Aku-Aku cried out.

 

The bandicoot fell on the floor, unconscious. The two quickly rushed to his side worriedly.

 

“Coco, what happened?” Aku-Aku asked, alarmed.

 

“I-I don’t know!” the girl yelled back, voice laced with panic.

 

And that’s when it happened.

 

Sparks continued spewing out the computer while the air became charged with energy. All of the portals appeared all around them pulsing violently and the hub began shaking. The five areas all collapsed and fell into the void below.

 

“What is happening!?”

 

“The machine. It’s falling apart!” Coco muttered, crying out when the computer finally blew up. “We need to get out of here before-”

 

Blinding blue light exploded from the portals and Aku-Aku quickly threw himself in front of the siblings. Coco held onto her brother as her scream was drowned out by the deafening noise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. We know the Twister explodes at the end of the game, but what would have happened if Crash and the others didn’t escape in time?


	7. Lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I’m back with a new chapter. I’m sorry if these are taking some time to get out, but I have other stories to work on so I don’t have time to focus on this one alone. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

“What do mean it’s not working!” Dingodile growled. “Did you break it?”

 

“No, it’s still functioning. I mean there are no portals showing on its map,” Pinstripe snapped back as he fumbled with the device. “Something must have happened to the Time Twister,”

 

The other mutant blinked, unease creeping into his voice as he processed this. “Wait, then how are we supposed to…?”

 

“We can’t,”

 

**\---------**

Consciousness slowly came to her. Coco opened her eyes and looked up to see dim orange light streaming through thick branches. Once the fogginess left her mind, she was struck with a realization.

 

She wasn’t lying on ground.

 

She was stuck and tangled in some vines between trees. Her mind immediately went racing and she thoughtlessly struggled to free herself in her panic. She succeeded in do so only to realize too late that there was nothing down there to catch her. 

 

She screamed as she plummeted through the air and fell into a lake with water that had a brownish ting to it. Gasping for breath, she struggled her way to the edge and pulled herself up. “Eww….” She coughed and wiped her mouth in disgust, shuddering.

 

“Guys?” She called weakly, looking around at the massive jungle surrounding her. _Where…am I?_

 

Soon everything came rushing back to her and her breathing hitched. _That’s right. The Time Twister exploded_. Coco stood up as she began hearing noises coming from everywhere. Some she could indentify as the wildlife, but others she couldn’t. They were heavy and loud and left her quite uneasy. It wasn’t until she stepped on some tar that she realized where she was.

 

This was the Jurassic area Crash had gone to before, but she didn’t recognize this part of the jungle.

 

They must have been scattered through time after the machine blew up.

 

Where were Crash and Aku-Aku though? Were they harmed? She didn’t want to think about that. She was especially worried about her brother. He had been badly hurt the last time she saw him.

 

Grimacing, she began trudging through the tar-filled swamp, swiping away at the insects flying close to her. “Aku-Aku?” she started calling again. “Crash!”

 

She couldn’t believe it. How did this happen? They were so close to finding all the crystals, so close to beating Cortex and his minions, but everything had shattered in a moment and none of them saw it coming.

 

Just then, Coco was snapped out of her thoughts by a new sound. There were heavy footsteps echoing in the distance. Whatever it was coming her way, it was HUGE. Panicking, the girl scrambled into a hollow tree and hid inside it.

 

She waited there as the creature slowly walked near the tree and she wished it would carry on its way, but she immediately tensed up when it began sniffing the air and made low growls as it stepped closer to her tree. _No, no, no!_

 

Suddenly, the creature paused and began walking away. She assumed to it got distracted by something. Coco sighed in relief and came out of her hiding spot. _That was too close._

 

She only managed to get a few feet away from the tree before she heard bustling in the bushes not far from her. “Not again,” she muttered and backed away.

 

The thing finally jumped from behind the shrubs and dashed toward her, causing her to fall on her backside in fright. The girl then found herself facing a blue-eyed baby dinosaur. She was left speechless when it licked her face. “What-”

 

“Hey!”

 

Coco then noticed the person riding the dinosaur looking down at her and gasped. “Crash!”

 

She rushed to hug him the moment he hopped off, hearing him grunt in pain. “S-sorry! I forgot,” she stammered and he gave her a reassuring nod, still wincing.

 

“I’m so glad you’re okay. Wait, is Aku-Aku with you?” she asked, looking behind him hopefully, but Crash’s ears drooped, confirming her fears. The three of them got separated. The mask must have ended up somewhere else.

 

“I see,” she sighed dejectedly. The two flinched at the sound of growls in the distance and the dinosaur beside them tensed up. “We should get out of here,”

 

Crash climbed onto his friend’s back and held his hand out for her. She hesitantly took it and let him help her up. “Whoa,” she yelped as tried balancing herself on the creature and ending up grabbing onto her brother’s back.

 

With that, the three headed out into jungle.

 

**\-------**

 

Crash winced as they sprinted through the trees, feeling tension coursing through his body, but his grip remained tight on the dinosaur.

 

When he first woke up, he found himself lying on a patch of grass somewhere that _wasn’t_ the Time Twister or his home. He hadn’t been able to move. His body was numb and his senses were buzzing. For a while he stayed there until he recovered enough to be able to stand and explore his new surroundings, which was a task in out of itself.

 

He immediately recognized the swamp and started searching for his sister and guardian in sheer panic only to be tackled later by the baby dinosaur who followed his scent. He wasn’t displeased to see a friend again though.

 

Now with his sister with him again, they should be fine. She was the thinker of their duo after all. She will come up with a plan to get them out of this mess. He usually went with the flow of things and did whatever the situation demanded.

 

The three wandered further into the jungle, jumping over lava pools and steam coming out of the ground. They made sure to avoid running into any dinosaurs. The last thing they needed was to be hunted down, especially since he hadn’t fully recovered.

 

“Crash? We should find a place to spend the night,” his sister said from behind him. He stopped.  

 

“Too early,” he replied.

 

She gave him a confused look. “Early? What are you talking about? The sun has already set!”

 

Crash shook his head and pointed up only to be baffled when he saw the sky slowly changing to a shade of blue.

 

But…but how? It was daylight a moment ago….

 

Seeing the confusion on his face, Coco said. “Crash, I think you’re still disoriented from the shock. Maybe we should get you somewhere to rest,”

 

Shaking the uneasiness away, Crash nodded and began searching for a safe place for them. It was hard considering the kind of environment they were stranded in. He pulled to a different direction when he saw skeleton bones lying ahead of them. He didn’t want to find out what left those there.

 

Eventually, he stopped beneath a large old tree with big roots.

 

“I’ll make the fire,” she said. Aku-Aku had taught them once when they spent the night on the beach a month ago.

 

The thought of the mask only made Crash miss him more. Their caretaker had become almost like family to them, having been always there wherever they went ever since the castle fell. His absence was hard to ignore.

 

Crash shook his head. He shouldn’t be thinking like that. Now was not the time. They will find him as soon as they get out of this dilemma. The mutant was confident of that.

 

 Not knowing what else to do for the mean time, the bandicoot went to look for food. When he came back to his sister, who already had the fire ready, he brought a weird-looking fish he caught and some spiky fruit. It was the best he could find.

 

Grinning, he placed the fruit over a large leaf and headed over to show his sister his catch. She merely looked at it disinterestedly. “That’s nice, Crash,”

 

Blinking, Crash ran back and brought one of the fruits for her, but she dismissed it. “I’m not hungry,” she said, sounding tired.

 

Shrugging, Crash bit into the fruit and his eyes widened. He tried to hide his gag reflex from his sister. The fruit was so _sour_. He barely managed to swallow it.

 

He walked back and sat on the ground, glancing over to see the baby dinosaur sleeping a bit back from the fire. He took another reluctant bite from the fruit and turned to his sister who was deep in thought, only to nearly choke on it.

 

His sister looked…older.  

 

She looked several years older than she was before and was taller than him now, but she didn’t seem to notice any of these changes, lost in her own thoughts.

 

Crash absently tried slapping his cheek to make sure he was actually seeing this. This couldn’t be real. That shock from the portal must have messed with his brain far more than he previously thought.

 

“Crash?” she called, startling him as now he saw her as her normal age. “You’ve been staring at funny for a whole minute,”

 

Crash blinked and mumbled an apology.

 

“Are you _sure_ you’re okay?” she asked, almost warily. He nodded frantically to reassure her. She eyed him for a moment and then sighed. “I still don’t get it. What happened to the machine? It was perfectly functional after you defeated N. Tropy, so why did it-”

 

Coco then slapped her forehead in realization. “Of course! The fight!”

 

Crash cocked his head to the side in puzzlement. She elaborated.

 

“When we were fighting over the crystal, I kicked you and sent you flying into the keyboard. Something must have broken in the computer and caused the machine to malfunction,” she groaned and buried her face in her hands.

 

Crash’s ears fell. So…this was his fault? If he hadn’t gone crazy back there then would they have safely continued on with their quest? The realization made his stomach churn and left him feeling really guilty.

 

“We can’t return to our time now,” Coco murmured dejectedly.

 

“We can,” Crash insisted, optimistically.

 

“How?!” Coco huffed. “The Time Twister was how we managed to travel through time in first place. Without it, we’re stranded here millions of years from our own time!”

 

Her expression then crumbled as if she was realizing the implications behind her words. “And just when we finally had a home we’re actually safe in, with someone who doesn’t think of us as disposable pawns,” the girl buried her head in her knees and finally let herself sob.

 

Crash stared at his sister in panic, unsure of what do or say. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. His sister was supposed to have a plan for them. They were supposed to leave this place and go back to their caretaker, but he instead watched his sister cry while feeling completely lost.

 

They couldn’t be truly stuck here. They just couldn’t.

 

Eventually, his sister went to sleep after placing more leaves on the ground while Crash remained awake to keep watch, occasionally throwing dry branches into the fire. He saw her shift in discomfort and felt another stab of guilt for being the reason for their predicament, for why they were sleeping in the middle of nowhere where anything could jump out of the shadows and attack them.

 

Shivering a little, the bandicoot looked up at the dark sky and sighed, thoughts of living here forever haunting his mind.

 

And that’s when he noticed it, something bright flashed faintly in the air above him. Crash blinked and squinted. It looked almost like….a transparent thread? He didn’t know if it had been there earlier or not.

 

He followed the thread with his gaze to see it leading to somewhere in the dark. Crash found himself standing up and walking away from the firelight and his sister after it.

 

Once it got low enough, Crash tried grabbing the blue thread with his hand, but it phased right through it. As he continued following it, he noticed more threads like it coming out of the jungle and passing through the trees.

 

Soon enough, he found all the threads intercepting and intertwining with each other in a single point, looking like a spider web glinting in the sunlight despite how dark it was. The sight was so captivating.

 

Eyes wide in awe, Crash curiously stepped forward and reached for it, feeling a pulse of something pass through him. The web instantly exploded into blue light, startling any creatures sleeping nearby and causing them to flee. Crash gasped as he stumbled back, clutching his hand that was throbbing with heat. He looked up and stiffened.

 

“Wha- What’s going on? Crash?” Coco shot up awake while the baby dinosaur let out distressed noises. She felt the light that was passing over them and looked back, losing her breath immediately.

 

There was the dark silhouette of her brother not far from them standing in front of a glowing portal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. In case you guys are wondering, no. The story is not close to being over. There are still a few more chapters before we get there.


	8. Dungeons and Towers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, phew I’m glad I managed to finish this chapter with all the work I have. College is tiring. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

Crash stared at the newly opened portal stunned while his sister absently walked over to him.

 

“H…how?” She murmured. “The Time Twister was destroyed. Where did this come from?”

 

Crash shrugged, unsure of how to answer that. He glanced down at his hand in thought. No, it couldn’t be.

 

“Crash, do you know what this means? This could be our way back home!” Coco muttered, perking up. The bandicoot realized this too and cheered, thrusting his fists up in the air.

 

A timid whine reached their ears and the two mutants turned to the baby dinosaur staring at them. Crash frowned and turned to his sister.

 

“I’m sorry, Crash, but we can’t bring him along. He belongs here,” Coco said, looking apologetically at him.

 

Crash sighed and then walked over to hug his dinosaur friend one last time. Coco petted its head lightly.

 

“Take care out here, okay?” she said. The two siblings backed away and faced the portal again.

 

“Ready, big brother?” Coco asked. Crash glanced at the portal and then grinned confidently at her. He got a hold of her to make sure they won’t be separated and without another thought, they jumped.

 

**\-------**

 

 Screaming, Crash and Coco were thrown out of the portal and landed roughly on something.

 

“Yes! We’re back…..home?” Coco trailed off when she saw that none of the familiar surroundings of the island were anywhere to be seen and instead the two were lying in the middle of a town square. “Where are we?” It was then the two realized they had fallen over a man who was out cold underneath them.

 

They glanced back to see crowds of people staring at them frozen in shock.

 

“Hi,” Crash said, waving at them nervously. Almost as if a spell was broken off of them, the entire crowd burst into screaming and scrambled away in terror. “So much for not being seen,” Coco sighed.

 

Among the chaos, she saw two knights rushing through the crowd toward them.

 

“Quick, let’s get out of here!” Coco grabbed her brother by the arm who was about to rush to fight them and pulled him away as the panicked cries rang louder around them. She didn’t know where to go. This was not where she had been expecting them to end up after all.

 

“Halt now!” one of the knights shouted behind them, but the siblings ran faster. They got chased through the town square until Coco had to stop at the sight of more knights standing in their way.

 

“Don’t move,” the knight warned, pointing his sharp looking sword at them. Coco and Crash gulped and raised their hands in surrender.

 

The knights looked at the mutants warily and then after carefully putting shackles on them, they made them walk back through the town and up a hill where a long bridge was. On the other side of the bridge was a tall castle and the girl knew whatever awaited them inside won’t be pleasant.

 

“Keep moving!” Coco winced at the yell. She glanced back to see the knight shoving her brother forward and scowled, but kept walking by her brother’s side. The interior of the castle reminded Coco too much of Cortex’s with the long hallways and paintings hanging on the walls. The resemblance was simply too close for comfort. Her brother seemed to feel the same way.

 

They passed all sorts of heavily armed guards who eyed them with wariness and even fear. They were eventually led to a huge empty room where a tall throne stood at the end of it. A middle aged man with a thick brown beard was sitting there, eyes wide in surprise. “What is the meaning of this? What are these things?”

 

“Your majesty,” said the knights’ leader, pushing the siblings onto the floor. “We have captured these imps while they were terrorizing the town,”

 

 _Imps? Really?_ Coco thought in annoyance while Crash murmured the word out loud, confused.

 

“Is that so?” the king muttered, stroking his beard while eyeing them as if they were strangest things he ever seen in his life. Actually, they probably were.

 

“Hey, listen,” Coco began, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “I think this is a big misunderstanding. My brother and I are not dangerous or trying to hurt anybody,”

 

“Lies! They have dark magic, your majesty. We saw them fall from a hole in the sky,”

 

“Well, that’s-”

 

“And they have knocked out a man on the street!” someone from behind added.

 

Coco cringed, but knew she couldn’t let them continue on with this. She knew she had to reason with these people to let them go. She had to at least to try. With that in mind, Coco opened her mouth and spoke up.

 

**\-------**

 

“Well, that could have ended worse,” Coco said, hanging on the wall of a dungeon.

 

Crash was right by her who was grumbling under his breath while thrashing back and forth in his chuffs. The only sounds in the dungeon were of rats and water dripping from the ceiling.

 

“Hey….what do you think they are planning on doing with us?” Coco asked nervously and Crash gulped, not wanting to find out. If only their guardian was here. Maybe he could had teleported them out of this place.

 

Crash gritted his teeth and struggled harder with his chains, pushing his feet against the wall and thrusting himself forward, hoping to break them.

 

Coco frowned. “Crash, stop. That’s not going to work,” she said, watching him stop and pant.

 

Just then, something in the air of the cell shifted. The two siblings felt the shackles tremble briefly before they cried out as they fell on the floor suddenly.

 

“What…what happened?” Coco asked dazed while her brother rubbed his sore face. He then looked down to their chains and blinked when he saw they turned to rusty powder.

 

“How did this happen? They were solid metal a moment ago?” his sister muttered, examining a rusted link from the floor. They turned to the cell bars to see they rusted too. Crash kicked one with his foot experimentally and watched it break down.

 

Crash turned to his sister who shrugged helplessly. “I honestly don’t know what’s going on either. None of this makes any sense,” she sighed, scratching her head like every time she was faced a frustrating situation. “But it doesn’t matter right now. We need to find a way out of here,”

 

Crash wanted to groan when he realized they were planning on escaping from another castle again, but nodded. The two slowly made their out of the dungeon and climbed up a staircase. Just as he was about to open the door, his sister grabbed his shoulder.

 

“Crash, we need to be careful out there. Aku-Aku isn’t around to protect us anymore. If we mess up in any way then…” she let the words hang the air and the bandicoot was hit with the true reality of their situation.

 

Without their guardian, they had no one to save them or pull them out of dangerous situations in time. He swallowed back his nervousness and nodded at her.

 

Pushing the door a little, Crash peeked outside for a moment before walking out with his sister. “Where do we go now? We never been here before,” Coco stated, looking down the corridor. The two began sneaking around and turned around a corner only to find an armored man waiting for them.

 

Crying out, Crash did a spin attack and knocked him away sending breaking into….pieces.

 

Crash and Coco blinked when they saw it was just armor with no person inside it. Flushing, Crash scratched his head. “Oops,”

 

“It’s fine. It freaked me out too. Let’s just-”

 

“Who’s there?” A real knight showed up, having heard the noise and gasped. “How did you get out?”

 

The mutants rolled out of the way when he charged at them with his weapon. Crash then grabbed the fallen helmet and jumped, dropping it backwards on the man’s head.

 

“Hey!” The man exclaimed and struggled to take. Coco took the chance and gave him a hard kick, knocking him away. Before they could celebrate their small victory, more footsteps reached their ears and they panicked. “Hide!” Coco hissed quietly and the two scrambled away, hiding behind large red curtains.

 

They waited with shaky breaths as the knight came and checked on the unconscious human briefly before disappearing down the corridor looking for them.

 

Coco sighed in relief. “That was close,” she glanced to her brother who was examining the curtain almost in thought and then glancing down the window. “Crash, what are you doing?” she asked.

 

The long grin he answered her with spelled nothing but trouble to her.

 

**\------**

 

“This is insane,” Coco muttered with finality, gripping onto the rope in fright. Her brother had them tear down every curtain they could find and tie them together. A clever idea if they weren’t hanging over thirty feet in the air!

 

Her brother flashed her another reassuring look from below her before continuing their descent. Heart pounding in her chest, Coco tried not to look down.

 

“Hey! I found them!” The mutants stiffened and looked up to see a guard looking down at them in surprise. He then got a hold of the rope and starting pulling it upward. There were probably other humans helping him as well.

 

“Wait, no!” Coco looked down at her brother. He gave a helpless look, obviously out of ideas. She looked around frantically and then saw a man pushing a hay wagon somewhere below them. She had a risky idea.

 

“Crash, start swinging with me! We need to land in that!” Coco called out, hoping he would trust her. Crash looked at her if she grew a second head, but then obliged, swinging back and forth with her to build up momentum. Coco measured the distance in her head and then shouted.“Jump!”

 

The two let go and plummeted through air screaming into the pile of hay. Crash came out of the hay pile, cheering and marveling at how lucky they were.

 

“They escaped! Capture them!” one of the guards nearby yelled.

 

Or not.

 

Crash and Coco quickly jumped out of the wagon and started running away. One guard tried slashing at him with his sword, but the bandicoot slid on the ground just in time.

 

“Back off!” Coco shouted, knocking him down with a low kick to the ankle.

 

Wasting no more time, they rushed toward the castle gate that they came from only for it to be raised up before they could get out. “No! That was our way out!”

 

Arrows began raining down all around them so they turned and ran to a different direction. Hurrying to the castle’s garden, the two ended up going inside a labyrinth to lose the humans. They ventured deeper and deeper until they couldn’t hear their voices behind them anymore.

 

“Where do we go now?” Coco asked tiredly.

 

Panting, Crash looked around desperately and then saw something glinting in the shadow. It was another blue thread, going through the wall of the green labyrinth.

 

“We need to think carefully about this, Crash. They might be waiting for us at any corner and- CRASH!” Coco exclaimed when he brother started running in another direction. Groaning, she began chasing after him.

 

Soon, the two made it out of the labyrinth only to find a high wall waiting for them at the end. Crash saw the thread go through it.

 

“Crash, why did you bring us here?” Coco asked, annoyed.

 

Crash blinked at her in confusion and pointed at the thread.

 

She narrowed her eyes at the space he was pointing to. “I don’t see anything,” she said, much to the bandicoot’s confusion. She couldn’t see it?

 

Voices soon echoed in distance again and the two knew they didn’t have much time before they were caught again. Panicking, Crash ran over and tried climbing the wall only to slide down and fall on his back.

 

“Here, help me up,” Coco said, pushing herself on his shoulder and struggling to balance herself.

 

“Heavy,” Crash grunted, gritting his teeth while his knees shook.

 

“Hey, I’m not _that_ heavy,” Coco huffed before grabbing onto some slightly loose bricks on the wall and using them to reach the top. “Hurry, grab my hand,” she called out urgently, reaching down for him. Crash jumped up and down in hopes of grabbing it, but it was too high.

 

 “I found you, rat!” the same guard from earlier stepped out of the labyrinth, sword glinting in his hand. The man cornered the bandicoot against the wall and raised his sword at him.

 

“No!” Coco cried out and nearly jumped back to stop him, but then she blinked when the blade never came down on her brother.

 

Crash cracked his eyes open and looked at the man sneering over him, frozen in place with his sword in the air.

 

“Okay, I’m really starting to consider the ‘dark magic’ thing,” Coco said, baffled.

 

Crash waved his hand in front of him, but he didn’t move or react to him, almost like one of the statues in this garden.

 

“Still, how are you going to get up here?” She asked.

 

Crash looked back and forth between them then brightened up when he had an idea and began pushing the frozen man toward the wall.

 

“You can’t be serious,” Coco slapped her forehead in disbelief as her brother climbed up on his shoulders. She still helped him up and the two then hopped down the wall to the other side. They began running down a slope, hearing a confused shout coming from the castle and realized the knight was back to normal again.

 

“Hurry,” Coco muttered.

 

The two bandicoots soon made it a golden grass field. Crash’s eyes never left the blue thread as it snaked through the grass while Coco looked back at the castle and sighed in relief, glad they managed to escape.

 

“Crash, let’s stop. I think we got far enough,” she said breathlessly, but he walked further ahead. She scowled. “Crash, why are you ignoring-” she was cut off when another portal burst into existence in front of her brother. Clutching his hand, he turned to her and grinned. “Ta-da!”

 

“How did…when…..where….” The girl’s mind couldn’t process what she just saw. So many crazy things happened just today and now she felt beyond lost. “How did you do that?”

 

Crash scratched his head and then shrugged his shoulders before motioning for her to follow him into the portal.

 

Coco stared at him and then rubbed her temples. She _really_ needed to sit down with him and figure out _how_ he was doing this. This wasn’t normal. Only the Time Twister was supposed to be able to do that. A lot of weird things were happening around them. The new portals, the rusted shackles, the frozen knight. She worried something a lot bigger than they think was going on and they had no clue about it.

 

But now was not the time for questions when the knights would probably come after them soon. Sighing, she grabbed his hand and leapt into the portal.

 

**\-------**

 

Dingodile growled as he pushed his way through the trees, flinching when a branch hit him in the face. “Hey, watch it!”

 

“Walk faster then,” Pinstripe huffed. The mutant’s suit had a few tears in it from their wandering through the forest which didn’t help his mood. The trees around them were thin and quite tall. Nothing he had seen before.

 

“What do you think happened though?” Dingodile asked, after stumbling over a log.

 

The other scowled. “It had to be that bumbling idiot and his sister. They must have messed with the N. Tropy’s machine and ruined everything!”

 

“What about the search though? Should we still look for the crystals?”

 

“I doubt that matters if we can’t go back to our own time to use them right now,” the shooter grumbled, rubbing his temples.

 

After a while, Dingodile spoke again. “You know, it’s getting late. Don’t you think it’s time we found a place to crash in?”

 

Pinstripe paused and turned to face him. “I’m _not_ sleeping in the dirt, Dingodile,”

 

Dingodile rolled his eyes. “Jeeze, well I’m sure if you keep looking you’ll find a hotel room somewhere with a nice bed for you to lay your little head in,” he replied sarcastically, earning an angry glare from the shooter.

 

“Shut up!” Pinstripe snapped and marched away. Dingodile sighed and ran a hand over his head before following him. Several minutes later, he pushed some bamboo away and saw a village down below in a valley.

 

“Will you look at that, beanpole. Looks like you’re not going to sleep in the dirt after all,” Dingodile called out to his companion. “Since Cortex isn’t around, I see no reason not to mess around a little,” he smirked, loading his flamethrower.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I can’t say how many chapters are left, but I’ll be sure to let you know once I figure it out.


	9. Midtown Rumble

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I’m posting this a little late in the night, but I really wanted to get this out today. I had to take a break from writing to focus on my studies and mid term exams, so sorry for being gone for a while. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

The two siblings landed on the ground in the middle of a forest. Crash pulled himself up and gazed around excitedly, but one look was all it took for him to realize they were yet again not back in Wumpa Island. Instead, there were these talk slim sticks stretching way high above them. He sighed dejectedly and his ears drooped in disappointment.

 

“Well at least we’re making progress,” Coco said suddenly and he perked up, looking at her confused. “Think about it. We first ended up in the prehistoric age, then the medieval times and I’m assuming that wherever this is it’s probably after or close to that. I believe we’re moving forward in time,”

 

Crash blinked and grinned widely. If that was the case they just had to keep jumping through portals until they reach the time they came from.

 

“Well, is the next portal around here?” she asked him. Crash scratched his head and looked around, but there was no blue thread to be seen. He shook his head.

 

Coco sighed. “Alright. We’ll have to go look around then,”

 

With no direction in mind, the two mutants began walking through dark forest faintly illuminated by moonlight and fireflies. Eventually, they found a path and began following it until they saw lights glowing in the dark. Lanterns.

 

Excited, the two hurried down the path until they made it out of the forest and ended up on a cliff. The two stared at the distance until something caught Coco’s attention. 

 

It was the Great Wall, still being built.

 

“I remember this place. I’ve been here before, back when the portal sucked me in for the first time,” She then felt her brother tap her shoulder and point down to a town down below. She frowned. “Crash, seriously? We’ve just made it out of that king’s castle. Being spotted is what got us chained in his dungeon in the first place,”

 

Crash pouted and patted his stomach.

 

Sighing, Coco looked away. She kind of felt the same. She hadn’t eaten anything since they fell into the dinosaur jungle and even then not much was eatable there. “Fine, we grab something to eat and get out. Got it?”

 

Crash nodded eagerly and rubbed his hands together.

 

Without wasting any time, the two began walking down the slope toward the faintly lit town, making sure to stay hidden in the shadows. They pressed themselves against a wall and stayed still as they spotted a carriage driving by.

 

Crash caught the smell of food coming out of it and stuck out his tongue, ready to sneak after it when his sister spoke up.

 

“Hold on, what is this?”

 

Crash turned to the wall they were standing against and nearly jerked back at the sight of painting of Pinstripe stuck on it.

 

“What is this doing-Oh no….don’t tell me,” Coco groaned. “They were here already?!”

 

They peeked from behind the wall to see more paintings of the mutant hung around the town and there was one of Dingodile by a store. Sneaking around the shadows, the two ended up in an alleyway. “I can’t believe this! How much are these guys going to screw up?”

 

Crash refrained from mentioning the fact that the two of them had been seen by humans before and something was bound to come from that. He instead gazed around the alley and noticed something on the ground, a mask of Dingodile.

 

“Egoistical much?” Coco muttered. “If these two took over this place then we need to do something about it,”

 

Crash nodded and walked over, tossing the mask into a barrel with a scoff before following her. Peaking around the corner, they saw humans carrying plates of food somewhere ahead. None of them were androids though.

 

Now that he thought about it, Crash hadn’t seen any in a while now. He turned to his sister and pointed at the humans, making an evil face while forming glasses over his eyes with his fingers.

 

“The androids? Well, they were made from the Time Twister so maybe they all disappeared after it blew up?”

 

She didn’t sound too sure, but it was better than nothing for Crash. Suddenly, Coco tensed up and Crash followed her gaze to see what she was looking at. Two men were pushing a wagon through the town filled with animal cages. Among them was a familiar little tiger behind bars.

 

He was nearly knocked away by Coco as she hurried after barely remembering to stay hidden with Crash trying to catch up to her in panic. It didn’t take long for them to see them enter a large dark storage house. Coco was storming her way forward without any sign of caution while Crash scrambling behind her nervously. It was odd considering that _he_ was usually the reckless one out of the two of them and running head first into danger.

 

Once she stepped inside, Coco and Crash saw cages scattered all around them. Crash couldn’t help shuddering slightly as it reminded him of the room of cages back in Cortex’s castle. His sister then called out. “Hello?”

 

The two men stopped what they were doing and screamed at the sight of the two. Coco raised her hands. “Hang on, we’re not bad-”

 

One of them flung a tea pot at her and she ducked down to avoid it. The two then ran straight for the door shrieking. “At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised by this,” Coco sighed and then perked up when she remembered the cage. “Pura!” she rushed over to it and bent down on her knees. “Hey, buddy. Are you okay?” she asked softly as she struggled with the lock and the tiger made a worried sound. “Don’t worry; we’ll get you out of here,”

 

**XXXXXXXXXX**

 

 Dingodile bit down on the roasted chicken leg as the humans continued bringing more plates to their table. He scared an old man with his sharp teeth who sputtered and stumbled back.

 

“Seriously, how much can you eat?” Pinstripe asked, playing around with his plate of rice.

 

Dingodile swallowed and glared at him. “Hey, I don’t get to have all this fancy food back at the castle, so shut it!” he muttered, pointing at him with the leg.

 

Pinstripe sighed and tried once more to use the chopsticks to pick a dumpling from his plate only for it to fall down again. He grunted. “Ugh, it’s like learning how to use our mutant bodies all over again,” he picked the dumpling up and popped it in his mouth, chewing quietly.

 

“Where do you think the others are right now, mate?” Dingodile asked him, a slight serious edge to his voice. “We’ve been here for days and none of them showed up yet,”

 

Pinstripe frowned. He had been thinking about that way before he asked him. “I assume they ended up somewhere else from here,” he then shrugged. “I honestly don’t mind being here though. It’s nice to finally be treated with the respect that I-”

 

Before he could finish, he was hit with a tomato to the face. Whipping it away, he growled. “W-who did that?!”

 

“Us!” Coco muttered, standing not far from the massive table with her brother only to notice him munching on a peach. _“Crash!”_

 

“Need food to fight,” he said, mouth full. Coco slapped her forehead and groaned in defeat.

 

“What are you two maniacs doing here?!” Pinstripe exclaimed, standing up.

 

“Out of everybody to show up?” Dingodile grumbled, biting down on his chicken leg again.

 

“I should be asking you! Do have any idea how much you jerks could change in the future because of what you’re doing right now?!” Coco yelled back angrily.

 

“Yeesh, now you’re starting to sound like N. Tropy,” Dingodile scoffed, rolling his eyes.

 

“What we do is none of your business, but in all honesty I’m glad you’re here. After all, I have a score to settle with you two, especially a certain buffoon,” Pinstripe stated bitterly, glaring at Crash who returned the glare.

 

The moment Pinstripe reached down for his rifle, Crash dashed forward and jumped onto the table, much to their surprise and kicked a plate of food into his face, causing him to back away.

 

Realizing the fight that was about to happen, all the humans nearby dropped the dishes they were carrying and fled.

 

“Oh no, you don’t!” Coco hurried in front of Dingodile, preventing him from reaching his tank and taking a fighting stance.

 

“Out of the way, brat!” the mutant spun around and smacked her away with his tail. He then grabbed his weapon from the ground and smirked. “Let’s see how you’ll like getting toasted,”

 

He aimed and fired a stream of flames at the girl, causing her to duck down to avoid it. The whole table behind her was blasted away instead. “Oh, look at what you made me do!” he huffed and started firing more aggressively, nearly hitting some of the houses around.

 

Coco gritted her teeth. She had to end this before he set the whole town on fire, but she didn’t have any cover to hide behind from his attacks. While Coco continued running across the area to avoid his shots, Pura went running behind him and bit his tail, making him cry out in surprise.

 

“Let go of me!” he growled, shaking his tail to get rid of it. Coco took the chance and launched herself at him, kicking him in the jaw and knocking him away.

 

Dusting herself, she bent down to pet her tiger friend. “Nice work, buddy,” she said and Pura made a proud noise.

 

Meanwhile, Crash was still fighting Pinstripe. The taller mutant tried kicking Crash, but he rolled out of the way and evaded another swipe directed at him.

 

“You think you can just barge in here and ruin everything again? This time I won’t let you get away!”

 

Crash frowned. He was still bitter about what happened at the castle? He jumped back again when he swung his fist at him and then blinked when the other mutant sprinted away.

 

He then gasped when he saw Pinstripe running to the rifle and he realized his mistake too late. Without thinking, he scrambled after him, but the other had already gotten the weapon and aimed at him, firing immediately.

 

The bullet barely missed Crash’s ear as he ducked down and slid the rest of the way to Pinstripe’s leg, kicking him there and causing him to gasp and kneel, which gave Crash enough time to knock the rifle away from him and punch him hard in the face.

 

“Crash, here!” He turned around to see his sister rushing over to him with some rope. “Tie him up!”

 

Doing as he told, Crash and Coco ended up tying both mutants.  “Phew, that should keep them from causing any more trouble around here,” Coco said, giving her brother a thumbs up.

 

“That’s what you think,” Pinstripe said.

 

“What?”

 

“Tell me, now that you have us both tied up like this. What are you planning on doing with us?” Pinstripe asked smugly. “It’s your fault that we’re all stuck here when shouldn’t be, remember?”

 

Coco scowled at him while Crash flinched. “Well…I- Of course we know!” she said stubbornly. She turned to her brother, whispering. “I honestly don’t know what to do with them. I never thought of that until now,”

 

Crash looked down in thought for a moment and then looked up at her. “Bring them,”

 

His sister blinked. “Huh?”

 

“What are you two whispering about?” Dingodile growled.

 

Crash turned to them. “Come with us,”

 

“”What?” Dingodile muttered, looking at him in surprise.

 

“Crash, what are you saying?!” Coco gaped in disbelief.

 

“Can’t leave them here,” Crash stated.

 

Coco opened her mouth to argue, but realized he had a point. Leaving them in the past will still be just as bad for the future, though she couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to her brother’s request than what he was letting on.

 

“Have you two lost your minds? The Time Twister was destroyed. There is no way to go back to the future!” Pinstripe scoffed.

 

Coco glared at him and then sighed. “There is a way actually. My brother somehow can find portals and open them now. That’s how he and I ended up here just a little bit ago,”

 

“Seriously?” Dingodile muttered while Pinstripe huffed.

 

“I don’t care if what you're saying is true. I’m not relying on that idiot for anything!”

 

Dingodile rolled his eyes at him. “Oh, hush up. You know you don’t want to be stuck here forever,” he said and the other didn’t respond. “If there is a chance for me to go back then I’m taking it. Even if I had to hang around the enemy,” he added cunningly between them.

 

“Alright, fine,” Pinstripe told the bandicoots reluctantly, sounding as if it physically hurt him to say that.

 

Crash grinned while Coco shook her head tiredly. “I can’t believe we’re actually doing this,” she then glanced at him. “Lead the way, big brother,”

 

Crash nodded and walked away humming. Pinstripe and Dingodile grunted as they struggled to stand up due to their binds and began walking after him only to be stopped by Coco. “Alright you two, my brother may have agreed to let you two come along, but I’ll be keeping an eye on you so you better not try anything,” she warned.

 

“Yes, ma’am,” Dingodile said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Coco glared at him, but walked away when she heard Crash call for her, followed by their two enemies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Now that I only have two stories to work on I’ll be able to update this more often, so the next chapter won’t take long to be ready.


	10. Shadow of the Tomb

Crash hummed to himself as they wandered down the path through the bamboo forest, having left the human village about half an hour ago. He glanced back to see his sister walking back with Pura and the other two mutants not far behind. They didn’t look too happy about this though. Pinstripe sent him a glare when he noticed his gaze making Crash look away awkwardly.

 

There was still no sign of those blue threads anywhere, but he knew there had to be one somewhere.

 

“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Dingodile asked skeptically.

 

“Hey, finding these portals isn’t easy as you think,” Coco defended him. “I believe,” she murmured doubtfully under her breath. Since she didn’t see the blue threads, she had no idea how her brother knew where the portals were hidden.

 

“We’ll probably end up in a ditch somewhere,” Pinstripe huffed and both siblings glared at him.

 

Just as Crash turned his gaze back to the path, he froze up and spread his arms wide to prevent anyone from passing him, nearly making everyone bump into each other.

 

“Why are we stopping?” Dingodile grumbled behind him.

 

Crash grinned at the sight of the thread, but then frowned and looked both ways, not knowing which way exactly it was coming from. Glancing back at the expectant gazes of the other mutants, he made the choice and went left.

 

They went through the bamboo and began walking down a slope to find a small creek in their way. Crash saw the thread going across it.

 

“Is this where we should go?” Coco asked. Crash nodded hesitantly.

 

“Wait, seriously?! I’m not going in there!” Pinstripe growled.

 

“Why? Are you afraid you’ll get all wet?” Dingodile teased.

 

Pinstripe stared at him. “I’m really starting to wonder if you’re actually on my side,” he deadpanned.

 

“Adding to my previous statement, I wouldn’t _also_ pass a chance to mess around with someone,” he said with a grin. Since his hands were still tied and couldn’t smack him, Pinstripe bumped him with his shoulder.

 

“Will you two quit bickering?” Coco asked, looking at the running water in thought. There didn’t seem to be any way for them to jump over it. She sighed. “We’re gonna have to cross it,”

 

The two siblings stepped into the water. It was deep enough to pass their knees. Crash gritted his teeth while trying hard to walk through the water until he made it to the other side.

 

Once they both on the other side, they turned for the remaining two. “Well? Aren’t you coming?” Coco called.

 

Exchanging looks with Dingodile, Pinstripe stepped back. “Have the honor,” he said.

 

Glaring at him, Dingodile began crossing the creek, looking beyond jittery with Pinstripe right behind him. The two ended up taking a bit longer than the bandicoots before making it eventually to the other side, but a fish suddenly jumped out of the water and Pinstripe, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the water.

 

He sat up and glared at them as the fish swam away, suit drenched. “I hate you all,”

 

After walking away from the creek for several minutes, the four reached a temple. There was a giant bell near it along with a well. Crash perked up when saw the threads gathering up at the temple’s door.

 

Crash quickly began running up the stairs, causing everyone to hurry after him.

 

“Hey! Wait up!”

 

Crash continued running until he made it to the intersection point. He touched it and gasped, feeling heat passing through his body and opening the new portal. The force behind it caused the large bell to ring and blew the leaves on the floor around.

 

He panted, clutching his hand. It was strange that doing this was getting more and more draining every time he did it. It certainly didn’t hurt as much as it did now than back at the golden fields out of the castle.

 

Looking back, he saw the other two mutants had bewildered looks on their faces.

 

“Well, you weren’t kidding,” Dingodile whistled while Pinstripe huffed.

 

Crash rolled his eyes and turned to his sister to see her hugging her tiger friend. She murmured something to him softly before letting him sprint away. Crash walked over to her in concern, but she shook her head.

 

“I’m fine, let’s go,” she said, reaching for his hand only for both of them to cry out when Dingodile ran right through them.

 

“Ha! See you later, suckers!” he exclaimed before jumping into the portal with Pinstripe.

 

“How surprising,” Coco muttered, taking her brother’s hand and jumping after them.

 

**\--------**

 

Somewhere in a faintly lit room, Dr. Cortex woke up with a light headache. “Ugh, what happened?” he looked around and realized his surroundings had changed. This was not the forest they once were in. “Oh no. No, no, no!” he muttered frantically. _Where am I?!_

Struggling to stand up briefly, he stumbled over to see a glowing bars, blocking his way. He tried touching it with his finger only to yelp as it zapped him. It finally struck the scientist then.

 

He was in a cell!

 

“Dr. Cortex?”

 

The man blinked and glanced over to see his assistant hovering next to him. “Brio?”

 

“You’re finally awake. You’ve been unconscious for quite some time,” Brio stated.

 

“Where are we? What happened?” he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

 

Brio sighed and looked down to his feet. “Something must have gone wrong with N. Tropy’s Time Twister. We got scattered through time from what I figured and-”

 

“Hey! Quiet, you two!” A man in futuristic looking armor shouted from the corridor, walking up to stand in front of them with his gun.

 

“Hold on a moment. What are we imprisoned for?” Cortex asked, scowling.

 

“For using unknown and unauthorized quantum technology,” the guard replied.

 

“He’s talking about the Time Twister, sir,” Brio whispered.

 

“I know what he’s talking about!” Cortex snapped back. He then turned to the guard with a nervous grin. “Listen, this is all just a _big_ misunderstanding. We’re not guilty of anything!”

 

“That is for the Great Council to decide. Until then, you would remain here under high surveillance,” he said and walked away before Cortex could get another word out.

 

“I can’t believe this! They’re just gonna lock us up here for simply owning a time machine?” Cortex groaned.

 

“Well, to be fair, they are right in doing so considering what we were using it for,” Brio murmured only to flinch from the glare he got from the doctor. He grinned. “B-but look on the bright side, sir!”

 

Cortex stared at him. “And what would that be?!” he exclaimed in exasperation.

 

“At least Master Uka-Uka isn’t here to kill us for failing him,” he offered weakly.

 

Cortex turned to the laser bars and sighed in defeat. “True,”

 

**\-------**

 

Crash and Coco cried out as they fell on the floor of a dark corridor. Crash immediately took notice of the paintings on the wall and shuddered, realizing exactly where they landed this time.

 

The pyramids. 

 

“What is this?! This isn’t our home!” They looked up to see Dingodile glaring down at them, taping his foot on the floor.

 

“You do remember that we were living in a warehouse, right?” Pinstripe asked, baffled by why his partner would be so eager to go back to that dumpster of a home.

 

“Well, if you two weren’t in such a rush to _ditch us_ back there, we would have told you that we have no control over where the portals take us,” Coco huffed, glaring back at him. “I only know that we seem to be moving forward in history with each time leap,”

 

“You got to be kidding me. You mean when need to go looking for more now?” Dingodile groaned.

 

Crash shrugged and motioned for them to follow along. They might as well get going now.

 

“This is so cool,” He heard his sister whisper as she admired the walls. He rolled his eyes, but then yelped when he heard her growl angrily. He turned to see what was wrong and winced at the sight of Cortex’s face drawn on the wall.

 

Dingodile did the equivalent of raising his hands defensively despite both of them being tied up when her furious gaze found him. “Hey, don’t look at me. It was the boss’ idea!”

 

“Right, because we you two did back at that village was _so_ different,” Coco argued.

 

“It’s just hard not to abuse your power when you know nobody around can stop you. You wouldn’t understand, little girl,” Pinstripe shrugged, smirking. The bandicoot wanted to yell at him, but refused to acknowledge what he said and walked ahead fuming.

 

Crash stopped everyone when saw the first trap. Beams of light were shining down on the path. Crash eyed the holes in the wall nervously.

 

“Oh no, I remember this,” Coco gulped behind him. “We need to walk cross without getting caught in the light or we’ll get shot with darts,”

 

“How does that even work?!” Dingodile muttered over the two of them.

 

“Eh,” Crash shrugged. He then nervously began stepping through the lights, squeezing himself between them without touching them. No mask for protection. One hit and he will be done for. Snapping his eyes shut, he leapt the rest of the way and landed on the ground safely. Crash checked himself for any damage and then cheered.

 

“Um, hello! You’re forgetting something!” Dingodile said gently before yelling. _“How am I supposed to get past that?!”_

 

“Uh….oh,” Crash murmured, realizing that Dingodile was much larger than him so squeezing his way through would be close to impossible.

 

“Why don’t just run for it? It’ll be like the old days,” Pinstripe said and Dingodile glared at him once he realized what he was talking about.

 

“Shut it,” He growled before nervously turning to the trap and without a thought he rushed into the lights, shrieking when darts shoot from the wall. He leapt and fell on his chin, barely making it. He groaned. “If the rest of this place is like that then _please_ send me back to that village,” he grumbled.

 

Crash shook his head and reached his hand out to help him up. Dingodile glared at him and pushed himself up, moving away from him.

 

Sighing, Crash turned to wait for his sister and Pinstripe.

 

**\------**

 

“Wait, do you hear that?” Coco suddenly asked once they entered a new room. The group stopped and listened. Faint thumbing could be heard in the distance.

 

“It sounds like….it’s coming from there?” Pinstripe realized.

 

The three turned to the wall in question as the noise got louder and _louder_.   

 

“I don’t like this….” Coco murmured to them, edging back a little.

 

Something suddenly burst through the wall, making them all cry out in fright.

 

“Finally!” Koala Kong muttered, flexing his arms in relief. The group relaxed a little.

 

“Do you have _any_ idea how close I was to having a heart attack?” Pinstripe scolded him.

 

“Aw, were you scared that much?” Dingodile teased. His companion raised a brow.

 

“I can see your hands still shaking, friend,”

 

The other mutant saw this and quickly hid them behind his back.

 

“Good to know I’m not the only one stuck here,” Koala Kong stated with a hand on his hip before noticing the bandicoots. “And look what we have here. I won’t complain though. I’ve been aching to crush you brats into dust for quite a while now,” he said solemnly, bringing his fists together. Crash and Coco tensed up.

 

“As much as I hate to say this, but we kind have a truce going on between us right now, pal,” Dingodile said.

 

Koala Kong raised both brows in confusion. “And the binds?” he asked, gesturing to their hands.

 

“Well, it’s not like you guys are the most trustworthy bunch, you know,” Coco spoke up with an eye roll, meeting his glare.

 

“Shame,” Koala Kong grumbled. “Because I really would have like a rematch for that last encounter in Cortex’s castle,”

 

Crash wanted to face palm. Why does everyone need to have a bone to pick with him?

 

“Look, forget about that. We’re trying to find a way out of this place. Do you know where the exit is?” His sister cut to the chase.

 

Koala Kong shrugged. “If I did, would I really still stick around here?” he then gave a rare smile. “However, I did manage to find something just as great,”

 

He reached into his pocket to the glow that they hadn’t caught notice of until now and took out a power crystal. “Amazing, right?”

 

“Whoa! That’s terrific!” Dingodile exclaimed, eyes glinting.

 

Pinstripe hummed along. If they do manage to back home after all then they still had a chance to go forth with their plan!

 

Coco stared at the crystal in his hands in surprise, but there was also something about it that set off warning bells in her. She just couldn’t figure out why-

 

A sudden orange blur pushed past her and jumped into the air, snatching the crystal right from the larger mutant’s hands. “Hey, that’s mine!”

 

“And you were complaining about us being untrustworthy?” Pinstripe shouted to Coco only to be surprised by the look of dread on her face. “What’s up with you?”

 

“Oh no,” Coco could only murmur.

 

Crash finally turned to face them and caught them off guard with an almost feral look in his eyes. “What’s up with _him_?” Dingodile exclaimed.

 

Crash snarled at them before sprinting away down the hole Koala Kong came from.

 

“W-what was that all about?” Dingodile stammered.

 

“No, no, no! I can’t believe I forgot!” Coco groaned, burying her face into her hands. “This can’t be happening again,”

 

“What’s gotten into your brother?” Pinstripe pressed on.

 

“Look, there is no time! We need to find Crash before something bad happens!” Coco tried to hurry after him only to notice the three weren’t following her. “Don’t just stand there. Help me!”

 

“Oh, and what reason do we have to help you?” Pinstripe asked smugly and then his tone went bitter. “Or him,”

 

“Because he’s you’re only way to go back home?” Coco reminded in frustration. He scowled at that.

 

“Wait, what am I missing here? What are you guys talking about?” Koala Kong asked, feeling completely lost.

 

“I’ll tell you once you guys come with me!” the girl said urgently.

 

“Fine, but!” Dingodile held out his tied up hands to her. “You need to free us first,”

 

Coco looked at the binds and then gave him an un impressed look. “You do realize you could have just bitten them off, right?”

 

The two stared at her in loss and then Pinstripe hit his face with his hands.

 

Wasting no more time, the four mutants then began running after the fleeing bandicoot through the corridors. Glaring back at them, Crash jumped over a gap in the ground and slid over the oily floor.

 

“Stop right now!” Coco remained hot on his heels and leapt over the hole, struggling to balance herself on the slippery floor. She gasped when she saw her brother gripping the level at the end of the hallway with a long grin. “Crash, don’t you dare!” Coco warned. He pulled the lever and a massive stone block fell from the ceiling, charging toward them. “Watch out!”

 

Coco made herself jump onto the block and land on the other side with grunt just to see the next one coming her way. She dared a glance back to the other. Koala Kong was handling them easily, using his hand to push himself over each one while Dingodile and Pinstripe were struggling with them, being the least athletic out of them.

 

Coco scowled and used her momentum to slide across the floor, barely avoiding a block that nearly crushed her underneath its weight. “Got you!” she reached for brother only for him to slip away again. “After him!”

 

“Yeah, that’s we’ve been doing!” Pinstripe huffed, panting.

 

Ignoring him, Coco hurried down the ruins to find herself in a vast room. “Crash?” she called out, looking around warily.

 

“Where….did he go?” Dingodile asked tiredly after catching up with her and the others.

 

“I have no idea. I just saw him go in-”

 

She cut off as the floor disappeared beneath their feet and they all plummeted through the air, screaming and landing in a chamber filled with sand.

 

“Ow…” Coco looked up just in time to see her brother grinning down at them from above with the crystal in his hand before walking away. “I can’t believe this,” she said dejectedly. She had been so close to saving him….

 

“Ugh, my back,” Pinstripe grunted. He then turned to Coco and huffed. “Alright, little girl. Would you mind explaining to us what’s wrong with that brother of yours?”

 

Feeling the gazes of the other two on her, she sighed. She really didn’t want to discuss this, especially with their enemies. “It’s the crystals. Something about them makes Crash act like…that. We need to get it away from him or it will only get worse,” she said, running a hand through her hair.

 

“Yet you kept stealing them from us all this time?” Dingodile asked with a raised brow.

 

“We didn’t know back then!” Coco snapped and then her expression fell a little. “I should have known something was wrong, but I kept convincing myself that he was fine. It’s because him becoming like that before that the Twister got destroyed in the first place,” she said, more to herself than them. She still found part of the blame on herself for not acting sooner and wouldn’t deny it.

 

The three looked like they wanted to retort, but didn’t know what to say. Pinstripe grumbled. “Well, you should’ve-”

 

“Wait, do you hear that?” Koala Kong suddenly said, causing them all to quiet down. The crumbling sound soon returned, coming from holes in the walls of the chamber. It wasn’t long until snakes began slithering out of the darkness toward them.

 

“Great! Just when I thought this can’t get any worse,” Pinstripe muttered.

 

Coco took a step back and gasped when she saw a skull buried in the sand. She swallowed. “We need to get out of here. Now!”

 

Without a second thought, the four mutants scrambled away as the serpents continued advancing toward them through the sand. Coco looked around frantically for a way out, but there were no exits anywhere. She began to grow desperate as they found themselves at a dead end.

 

“We’re doomed!” Dingodile stammered.

 

“No, we’re not!” Coco countered, racking her brain for any solution. Something then caught her attention. There was seemed to be something up above, like an observing spot. “Up there! We need to get up there!” she yelled, pointing at her discovery.

 

“Are you kidding me?! How are we supposed to get there?” Pinstripe muttered. Koala Kong suddenly grabbed him in his massive hand.

 

“Like this,” he said and without giving him the chance to protest, he sent him screaming up to the balcony.

 

“Next,” Koala Kong turned to Dingodile.

 

“Wait, wait. No! Hold on a second-” he didn’t have time to finish as he followed his partner up on the balcony.

 

Coco knew what was coming next, but she still couldn’t help the nervous yelp that escaped her once she was grabbed next.“Ahhh!” She closed her shut and screamed as she felt the wind blow past her and landed on top of something squishy.

 

“Get off me!” Dingodile muttered.

 

“S-sorry,” Coco stammered. The ground beneath them shook briefly and when she turned, she saw Koala Kong walking up to them stoically like usual, though she saw a faint smirk on his lips.

 

Deciding not dwell on it, she turned to the archway, thinking of her brother and feeling a pit in her stomach. They needed to find the crystal before his condition gets any worse or if he leaves this time period. Then they will truly be stuck here for good.

 

“Come on, we need to hurry!”

 

**\------**

 

Crash watched as the four fall down into the trap pleased and then waved the crystal mockingly at them before walking away to leave them to their doom. His brows suddenly ceased and he glanced back to the pit again, feeling his chest tightening for some reason, but he crushed that feeling as fast it came.

 

Now was not the time to hesitate. He had places to go to. There were more crystals out there and he was going to find **_every_** single one of them. He already experienced what it’s like to have the power of one crystal, so having many more will give him power beyond their imagination.

 

Then he will go after Cortex and make him pay for what he did to him.

 

The final thought left a dark scowl on his face and without a second thought he began venturing deeper into the tomb in search for the next portal.


	11. The One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, I just finished my final exams for the semester so I’ll be focusing on finishing this story as soon as possible. I had a lot of fun writing this so I hope you enjoy it.

Crash coughed as he crawled through the narrow tunnel, his eyes twitching from the all dust in the air. Growling, he rushed his way through the dark and soon reached the other side, landing on the ground with a grunt.

 

Huffing, he dusted himself as he looked around. He made it pretty deep into the tomb and was starting to wonder if the portal was even remotely close. After having bypassed so many traps, he was beyond sick of this place.

 

Suddenly, a light chuckle reached his ears.

 

“Well, I never expected _you_ to be here,”

 

Crash spun around and glared at the dark, watching as a floating shape moved through the shadows swiftly and a pair of eyes glared at him from among them.

 

Crash immediately recognized those eyes.

 

“I see my annoying brother is nowhere to be seen. Did you wander off without him?” Uka-Uka taunted patronizingly as he came into the light.

 

Crash bared his teeth and got into a fighting position, clutching the crystal tightly in his hand.

 

“Hold on, I’m not here to fight you,” The mask said with an easy smile, but his eyes were looking over Crash. The mutant certainly was so much different from the time they met in that desert town. Back then, the mask had known something was off about him and now he knew why. “I actually found this further back when I arrived here,”

 

The bandicoot’s eyes widened when a power crystal appeared with the mask. Crash was ready to take it from him by force when the mask tossed it in his direction.

 

Catching it, the mutant blinked and looked at him in confusion.

 

“I was planning on keeping it for myself, but now I feel you should have it,” he said calmly.

 

Crash wanted to question the unexpected offer, but he felt too distracted by the power of the two crystals now in his hands. He can feel it streaming through him and empowering his body.

 

Uka-Uka caught notice of the bandicoot’s fur growing a bit darker and grinned deviously. “Incredible things these crystals, aren’t they?” he said, floating closer to Crash. “I remember seeing plenty of these around the island when I used to live there before they became rare to find. I wasn’t really aware of the power they held within them back then. Cortex once told me you destroyed his castle with only the power of one, right? Well, imagine what having a dozen of them would be like,”

 

Crash seemed to have the same thought and grinned widely.

 

He floated to his side and stopped there. “Listen, I feel we were going about this the wrong way. I want to gather all the power crystals and you desire that too, right?”

 

Crash looked up at him briefly then nodded cautiously.

 

“It’s clear to me now that you were the best option all along for this task. While Cortex and his minions couldn’t collect even one, you’ve never failed. You defeated them all again and again. I can see why you were the one chosen to be the mutants’ commander in the past,” he said, impressed. He then circled around the bandicoot and stopped when he sensed something else within him.

 

“I can feel a fragment of energy from N. Tropy’s machine stuck in you,” he hummed. “I see. That’s why I didn’t feel your presence a while before. Heh, you’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”

 

The mutant blinked at this new piece of information, having not known that. He shrugged. He supposed that explained everything in a way.

 

“Well, I might be able to help you get this ability under your control so you will be able to use it freely and in any time you want,” he offered. “What do you say we join forces, Crash Bandicoot?”

 

The promise of more power was more enough to convince Crash. Feeling a pulse coming from the crystals, he nodded without a second thought. Uka-Uka grinned sinisterly.

 

“Good. Let’s start,”

 

**XXXXXXXXX**

“Where _is_ he? It feels like we’ve been wandering these hallways for hours!” Pinstripe whined.

 

“It really hasn’t been that long,” Koala Kong replied, which was good because Coco was starting to get really tired of answering to their endless list of complaints.

 

“Hey, big guy. Would you mind carrying me? My feet are starting to hurt,” Dingodile asked.

 

“No,”

 

Dingodile frowned at this. “I’m going to climb on your back,”

 

“And I will drop you,” the other replied, causing him grumble.

 

It was annoying yet a traitorous part of Coco’s mind kept reminding her of how familiar all this was. It was always like this back at the castle, with all the mutants arguing, teasing and messing with each other all the time. It gave her almost gave her an odd sense of nostalgia, but she was quick to push it away. She shouldn’t be feeling like that, shouldn’t let herself remember those times this way. They along with the rest of the mutants betrayed them and worked with Cortex to take over the world. She needed to remind herself of that fact.

 

Suddenly, a tremor shook the hallway and startled them.

 

“W-what was that?” She muttered. Then a loud echoing sound followed, one she recalled with a chill down her spine, the sound of several time portals opening together.

 

It wasn’t long until small portals began slowly materializing in the air around them.

 

“What’s that?” Dingodile cried out, panicking.

 

“Let’s just run!” Coco stammered and they did just that, scrambling through the ancient corridor as the portals began sucking everything near them.

 

“What is this? What’s going?!” Pinstripe shouted.

 

“It’s Crash. We might be too late!” Coco exclaimed and looked back to see pots being sucked into a portal.

 

That was a mistake.

 

In her moment of distraction, she didn’t see the portal opening in her way until it was too late and she ended up setting foot into it. Her stomach dropped as she felt herself forcibly pulled down through it. She screamed all the way until she hit the ground with a yelp. It wasn’t a long fall by any means, but it was enough to leave her sore for a minute.

 

Groaning, she sat up and jerked back at the sight of her surroundings. It was like no place she ever been too.

 

There didn’t seem to be any land, just islands big and small floating around her in an orange void. She can see even houses, castles and giant cog wheels spinning on their own in the sky. She didn’t understand why, but a shudder went through her. There was underlying sense of wrongness with this bizarre place, as if she stayed here long enough she would fade away into nothing.

 

 _Where did I end up? This doesn’t even look like a place on Earth!_ She thought frantically. She couldn’t stay here. She had to find a way back to her brother!

 

Wasting no time, she began running around the wastelands, coming across more ruins and buildings buried into the ground. She didn’t know how long she had walked, but to her it kept feeling as if she wasn’t making any progress at all. She saw some time portals opening briefly nearby, but she found herself unable to jump into them, knowing that she could end up somewhere worse than this. She could feel tears of frustration and despair filling her eyes at the thought of never going back and seeing her brother again.

 

The sound of footsteps suddenly snapped her out of her grim thoughts. She glanced back and gasped. “You?!”

 

“I would say the same,” said none other than N. Tropy himself. The blue-skinned man had several pieces of his armor missing, but still managed to hold onto his tuning fork staff. “I see I caught you in a bad time?”

 

Coco quickly whipped away her tears and glared at him. “Shut up,”

 

N. Tropy scrunched his face at her and huffed, sitting down on the ground. “So, I’m going to assume you’re mission didn’t go so well,”

 

Coco looked away, not wanting to talk about it with him.

 

“How long exactly was I gone from the main timeline anyway?” he asked.

 

Coco blinked and looked at him confusedly.

 

“There is no time in this place. We’re outside of the time stream after all,”

 

“Wait, that’s where we are?” Coco asked back, stunned.

 

“Yes, I assumed you would be aware of that by now,” he said in a condescending tone, much to her dismay.

 

“Well, I don’t really figure that out because I’ll be getting out of here immediately!” the girl snapped back, which only got her a raised brow from N. Tropy.

 

“You don’t know the way back,” he said, not as a realization and more of a statement.

 

Coco flinched, but said nothing. She decided to change the subject. “I don’t know the answer to your question since we’ve been jumping through time a lot,”

 

“Right. So, are you going to tell me what happened to my Time Twister?” he asked in a sharp tone. “What’s been going on with the timeline?”

 

Coco averted her gaze, seeing no point in hiding this anymore. She told him everything. The fight at the Time Twister that started all of this and the situation they were before she fell into this void.

 

“Unbelievable. So much work…WASTED!” he groaned into his hands.  “You fools ruined everything! You two _and_ Cortex!”

 

“Thanks. I’ve been hearing that a lot,” Coco deadpanned, seriously tired of all this pointless blaming at this point. “If you don’t have anything helpful to say then I’ll be going,” she said and began walking away.

 

“Go where?”

 

“I’m going to choose a portal and jump into it. Staying here won’t do me any good,”

 

For some reason that got a laugh out of the man, causing her to glare at him. “What?”

 

He stopped laughing and smirked at her. “Even if you somehow manage to end up where your brother is, how are you two planning on returning to the present you came from?”

 

Coco frowned. “I just told you that my brother can open time portals and if my theory is correct then we should find our way back to the present eventu-”

 

“Wrong,” N. Tropy muttered.

 

“You don’t know that. You’re just saying that to discourage me!”

 

His face lost all previous mirth and he looked angry at her. “Come on! Cortex told me you are his smartest mutant. You should know the impossibility of what you’re trying to do!” he growled. “I specifically designed it so that all the gateways opened by the Time Twister are connected to it. All the portals you and your brother had been using that entire time were always linked to the present you belonged to!”

 

Coco soon realized what he was implying and her eyes widened in horror. “So…”

 

“You two have been haphazardly jumping through the timeline with no destination. You could have ended up thousands of years into the future, the distant past or even back to places that you’ve already escaped from before. It might take you hundreds of years to find a portal that will actually take you to the specific present you’re looking for!”

 

Coco stood there, too stunned by this to respond immediately. “No….that’s not true. You’re lying,” she said, but there was less conviction behind it this time.

 

“You’re in denial, girl,” he sighed and dropped his head over his hands. “Just accept the fact that we’re all lost,”

 

“No, I won’t,” Coco murmured quietly. “I’m going to find Crash….and then we’ll go back home,”

 

Without saying more, she turned around and began storming away to some nearby portals. She stopped and looked between them hesitantly. Taking a shaky breath, she approached the one on her right.

 

“Not that one,” N. Tropy called suddenly. “It’s the third on the left,”

 

“What? How do you know-”

 

“You underestimate, girl,” he said with a smug glint in his eyes. “My abilities might be limited, but there are still things I can see and feel,”

 

She eyed him suspiciously. “Why…are you helping me anyway?”

 

He shrugged. “If you wish to waste your time in your futile attempt to go home then I might as well set you on the right path at least,”

 

“You mean you’re not coming?” She asked, though she had no idea why she did.

 

“I see no point considering what’s going on,” he said and looked up as another tremor shook the air. “Whatever he’s doing out there, it’s really messing everything up,”

 

Coco turned to the portal and then gave a hesitant glance back. “Thanks, I guess,” she said reluctantly.

 

“Whatever,” he grunted.

 

Wasting no time, she jumped and left the void.

 

**XXXXXXXXX**

 

Coco cried out as she fell on the floor. “I really should be used to this by now,”

 

She looked around and felt a bit relieved to see she was back within the pyramid, though she had no idea when or where exactly did she end up inside it. _I hope I’m not late!_

 

Suddenly, she heard the sound of a heavy pulse coming through the walls. She bit her lip and began following it only to eventually run into something. “Ow!”

 

“Girl?!”

 

She looked up to see Dingodile and the other two looking down at her baffled. “Didn’t you get snatched away by one of those portals ten minutes ago?”

 

“Ten…minutes ago?!” She muttered in surprise. She felt she had been gone for at least two hours. N. Tropy wasn’t lying then. She shook her head. “I was, but I found my way back here again,” She answered as she pulled herself up.

 

“How exactly?” Pinstripe asked with a raised brow.

 

“I-” She immediately closed her mouth, not wanting to recall that conversation she had. “It doesn’t matter. Did you find Crash?”

 

“We think he’s up ahead,” Koala Kong said, wincing at the tremor coming from said direction. “We weren’t sure what to do,”

 

“Don’t tell her that!” Pinstripe snapped, his pride not allowing him to admit that the disappearance of their _enemy_ had thrown them off in any way.

 

“What? You know we need him to go back home and she knows what’s going on with him better than we do,” he replied.

 

Coco stiffened as N. Tropy’s words echoed in her mind. Right, she told everyone that Crash can take them back to the present, she herself believed that, but now she knew the truth. She just didn’t know how to break it to them. “Let’s just go get him,” she said eventually. Saving her brother should come first. Anything else comes later.

 

The three exchanged hesitant looks before slowly following her. They walked with held breaths as the noises grew louder the further they went. Soon enough, they reached a large archway. Coco peered behind it and froze up.

 

Crash was standing in the middle of the massive room, clutching two crystals in his hands while a wild force cackled around him, but what shocked her even more was the sight of Uka-Uka floating next to him.

 

“What’s going on? What are you seeing?” Dingodile asked behind her anxiously.

 

“Shh!” She muttered quietly even though she knew she wouldn’t be able to describe what she saw since it didn’t make sense to her at all. Crash had tried destroying them earlier so why wasn’t he attacking the mask too?

 

“You do realize I can sense your presence, right? Just come out,”

 

The four stiffened at the call and glanced at each other with wide eyes. Taking a shaky breath, Coco walked out of her hiding spot and walked into the room where the two were waiting up on the stone stairway where a giant statue was.

 

Coco swallowed and glared at the mask. “What’s going here? Crash, why are you with that maniac?”

 

“He works with me now. Isn’t it obvious?” Uka-Uka answered and a part of Coco was expecting that answer, but it still felt like a slap to the face to her.

 

“Crash, come on. You can’t trust him!” She shouted. She knew she can’t snap him out of the crystal’s control, but she hoped he would at least know better than to side with the evil mask, but he only smirked at her. 

 

“As for you three, are you going to explain what are you doing with my brother’s alley?” Uka-Uka asked sternly, turning to Cortex’s henchmen.

 

“Um….we…we weren’t really friends with them or anything like that. We were just hoping they would get us back to the present,” Pinstripe stuttered, trying hard to look calm under the demonic mask’s gaze.

 

“Oh, really? Well, good news then. With Crash and the power crystals with me, we have gained the power to control time. I can send you back,”

 

While Coco paled at this revelation, the three perked up.  

 

“But I won’t,”

 

“What? Why?!” Dingodile exclaimed only to flinch back when the mask sent him a dark glare.

 

“I recall telling you that I don’t like failures or show those who fail me mercy, but you three along with Cortex kept doing just that over and **_over_** ,” he state with his eyes blazing as he floated over Crash.

 

Coco gulped and backed away with the others as Uka-Uka placed himself over her brother’s face.

 

**“It’s time for you all to face punishment,”**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. The next chapter should be the last so be ready.


	12. Never Let Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Well, here we are. We’re finally at the end. This is probably the longest chapter in the story, but I had a great time writing it. 
> 
> Enjoy the final chapter in I Remember!

Saying that Coco was horrified will be an understatement. The sight of her big brother floating in the air with Uka-Uka’s demonic face was enough to leave her breathless.

 

“Guys, what do we do?!” Dingodile stammered, panicking.

 

“Run, that’s what!” Pinstripe snapped back and sprinted to the door only to stop when a red energy barrier blocked it.

 

 **“I don’t think so,”** Uka-Uka said as the two crystals vanished into him. **“There is no escaping my wrath. You’ll all be learning that soon,”** he then released a black and crimson miasma around the room, causing the four big stone statues to come to life.

 

“Not again,” Coco gulped as they marched forward, their hollow gazes locked onto them. She jumped back when a statue with a dog head began swiping at her with its staff. Recalling her brother’s mistake back on the island, she didn’t dare to punch or kick it. She heard a cry and glanced back to see Dingodile and Pinstripe running for their lives as the statues chased after them.

 

The one attacking her raised its staff and brought it down, nearly crushing her if she hadn’t moved aside just in time. Suddenly, Koala Kong ran in and slammed into it with his shoulder, knocking it away. He then picked up a piece from the broken statue and flung at the bird head of another that was trying to crush Dingodile in its arms.

 

“Will you guys pull it together? It’s not that bad!” Koala Kong growled.

 

“Easy for you to say! We don’t have our weapons!” Pinstripe shot back, glaring at Coco.

 

“Sorry,” Coco winced. It wasn’t like they could have trusted the two henchmen not to use their weapon on them when their backs were turned so they ended up disposing of them.

 

Uka-Uka suddenly appeared in front of them and began spinning like a tornado, Crash’s iconic attack. This served as an ugly reminder for Coco that Crash and Uka-Uka really were working together on destroying them. The dark tornado charged toward them before they can react and knocked Pinstripe, Dingodile and her away. Just as it reached the larger mutant, he threw his arms around it and caught Crash.

 

“Ha, I don’t care how many crystals you have, bandicoot. I was always better than you when it comes to strength,” Koala Kong gloated only to blink when Crash vanished from his grip and appeared in front of him.

 

The large mutant tried punching him, but he froze in time mid-punch, much to their shock.

 

 **“Nice try,”** Uka-Uka smirked. He then kicked him in the face and knocked him out the time prison with a telekinetic burst from his hand, sending him flying into a wall. The mask then turned to face Coco.

 

“Let my brother go, you monster!” she growled.

 

**“Let him go? It was he who joined me willingly. He chose _me_ over you!”**

 

Coco knew he was trying to get to her, knew her brother wasn’t himself when he made that decision or even right in this moment, but those words still hurt nevertheless. She scowled. “Shut up! I’m going to free him from you!”

 

That had the mask laughing. **“Child, we are one of the most powerful beings in the world right now. Do you have any idea what we’re capable of?”** he said and launched a red fireball at her from thin air.

 

The girl dodged it and charged toward them, but the fireball disappeared into a portal and was shot back at her from another.

 

“Watch out!” Dingodile warned.

 

Startled, Coco looked back and dropped to the ground immediately, the fiery projectile grazing the end of her ponytail.

 

 **“You really need to realize just how outmatched you are,”** he said almost bored as he surrounded himself with more fireballs and began launching them in every direction. They hit the walls, the floor and destroyed anything they touched in the tomb.

 

Coco scrambled to find cover behind a nearby pillar as the flames continued dancing through the air. Daring to glance beyond the pillar, she saw the other three running for cover too. She pressed herself against the hard stone as she waited out the violent onslaught.

 

 **“I see youuuu!”** Uka-Uka said in a cheery tone that sent a chill down her spine. She quickly ran out of her hiding spot just as a blast of energy cut through the pillar.

 

He appeared right in front of her. The bandicoot didn’t want to attack her brother, didn’t want to repeat that awful fight they had at the Time Twister again, but she was left with no choice. Without stopping, she swung her leg horizontally at him with a yell, but a portal appeared and sucked him away before she hit him. The next thing she felt was a hard kick to her back. She quickly recovered and turned to face him. “Stop that!”

 

 **“Why not? It’s quite entertaining. I never got to have this much fun in centuries,”** he stated with a smug look that she badly wanted to wipe from his face. Several small portals appeared around him with spears peeking out of them, all pointing at her. **“I think after I’m done with you, I’ll go find that brother of mine. I’m still not over what he did to me all those years ago,”**

 

Coco’s eyes widened. “No, you stay away from him!”

 

Uka-Uka scowled. **“Don’t try commanding me, child,”**  

 

Just then, Pinstripe came rushing with one of fallen statue’s weapons and swung at Crash who ended up catching it with ease. “I’m about had it with you!” Pinstripe growled, pressing his staff further.  

 

Uka-Uka grinned as the weapon turned to dust in his hand, causing Pinstripe to back away in surprise.

 

“Gotcha!”

 

Dingodile jumped behind Crash and smacked him away with his tail, sending him rolling through the air.

 

 **“How dare you!”** Uka-Uka growled.

 

“Forgot about me, didn’t you?” the mutant replied, grinning. The mask reached out with his hand and lifted Dingodile into the air. He then threw him across the room into Pinstripe.

 

 **“Pesky little worms! I will show what you’re truly dealing with,”** he said as his body began to glow and coils of blue energy burst from his fist, dancing around in the room. The ground shook and cracks began appearing on the walls.

 

“S-stop! You’re going to destroy the whole place!” Coco exclaimed as the air pressure coming from him pushed her back with the others.

 

 **“That’s the point,”** the mask replied and with a single motion, all the pillars in the room snapped. Pieces from the ceiling began falling all around them.

 

“Run!” Coco cried out and ran away. Koala Kong hurried to pick his two teammates up and rushed with Coco as the ceiling started collapsing around them.

 

Gritting her teeth, Coco’s eyes scanned through the clouds of dust for any place to hide from the falling rubble since the only way out was still blocked by the energy barrier.

 

“There!” she pointed at some massive pieces from the ceiling that fell in front them. They might work as a shelter.

 

“Are you crazy?” Koala Kong growled.

 

“Got a better idea?” she snapped back. The larger mutant closed his mouth shut and followed her underneath the mass of broken stones as the ceiling continued breaking apart.

 

Eventually, the noises stopped and the four let out collective breaths they didn’t know they were holding.

 

Their cover was suddenly pulled from above them and they all turned to see Uka-Uka looking down at them, disappointed. **“Still alive I see. Well, you won’t be for long,”** he muttered and the mutants panicked as their surroundings melted away. The wreckage that was the tomb room was gone and replaced with a view over the desert.

 

Coco realized with terror that they were teleported to the top of the pyramid. Dark clouds were gathering in the sky and blocking the sunlight as Crash floated in front of them. On the ground below, old pillars and ruins began to rise into the air and spiral around them as the ancient mask cackled madly. Any humans nearby panicked and ran away screaming.

 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m starting to miss the old stupid Crash,” Pinstripe said, gulping.

 

 **“Survive this!”** With a motion of his hand, Crash sent the floating wreckage raining down at them. The four could only run for their lives.

 

“I don’t know how long I can keep running like this, guys!” Dingodile panted once the attack ended.

 

“We’re done for. There is no way we can beat him,” Pinstripe said, an uncharacteristic look of dread on his face. Even Koala Kong, who had been undaunted by their enemy earlier, was looking worn out.  

 

The hopelessness of the fight was starting to get to Coco too. The scale of Crash and Uka-Uka’s power was increasing with every moment. She had no idea how long they can survive more of this. _Come on, think._ She bit her lip as she looked up at the floating figure above them.

 

And that’s when it hit her. Coco gasped and thought over her plan. There was a great risk, but it was all she had. “Guys, I got an idea,” she told them. “We only have one chance to pull it off though,”

 

“At this point, I’m not about to complain. Hit us with it already!” Pinstripe urged her.

 

“I need you and Dingodile to run and get Uka-Uka’s attention on you,”

 

“I regret what I just said,” he sighed.

 

“Are you sure you about this, girl?” Dingodile asked nervously.

 

No, but they had no other choice. “Come on, hurry!”

 

The two exchanged nervous looks and then ran away. Coco then turned to the remaining mutant.

 

“Koala Kong, remember the snake room?”

 

Meanwhile, Uka-Uka was still cackling as he experimented with his new found powers, twisting coils of pink energy all around him like lightening.

 

“Hey, Uka-Uka!”

 

He glanced down at the two mutants down below. Right, he momentarily forgot about them. **“Oh? Are you planning on pleading for mercy?”**

 

“No, I just wanted to let you know how _pathetic_ you actually are!” Dingodile exclaimed loudly.

 

 **“What?! Can’t you see all the power I have right now?”** he growled, gesturing to the stormy sky and the destruction surrounding them.

 

Pinstripe piped in. “Yes, but you needed the help of an oaf like Crash to get where you are. How sad,”

 

“I bet if your brother had these powers, he’ll be able to do so much more than this!” Dingodile added dismissively.

 

That struck a nerve in Uka-Uka and a white hot anger filled him. **“THAT’S IT! No more playing around. Let’s see if you two will enjoy oblivion!”** he snarled and began charging a blue orb in his hand, aiming it at the two who backed away in fear.

 

Suddenly, the mask heard a cry and looked over just in time to see the flying form of Coco slam into him. She wrapped her legs around his body and her hands immediately went for the mask.

 

 _“Get. Off. Him!”_ she yelled and pulled harder and harder. Crash struggled to push her off while the orb continued charging in his hand. While the two were struggling in the air, they failed to notice a piece of rubble flying in their direction until it was too late and hit them. The force was enough to help pull the mask off and knock the two crystals out of it. Coco screamed and grabbed onto her unconscious brother as they plummeted through the air.

 

The ball of energy was released and exploded, creating a glowing vortex that sucked the two mutants and the mask into it.

 

The floating ruins fell to the ground and the weather slowly began returning to normal.

 

“They’re gone,” Koala Kong muttered quietly as Pinstripe walked over next to him to stare at the empty space where the three fought.

 

“I can’t believe she actually did it,” Pinstripe replied.

 

“So…” Dingodile said, turning to them with a tired frown. “What now?”

**\---------**

 

The next time Coco opened her eyes, she found herself lying on grass. Feeling disoriented, she pulled herself with a grunt and saw her brother looking down at her worriedly. He looked quite shaken and weak. “Crash…”

 

He fell to his knees and hugged her. “You okay?” he asked.

 

“I think?” she replied, wincing when she tried to stand only for the pain in her leg to prevent her. It must have taken the blunt of the hit from that chunk of stone back there. She then looked around and saw they were on a hill in a clearing in the middle of a forest. A single big tree was behind them. Did he drag her here?

 

“Sorry,” he murmured suddenly, dejected. She frowned.

 

“Crash, it’s alright. It wasn’t your fault. Those crystals are to blame for what happened again,” she told him, but he almost looked like he didn’t believe her.

 

He then started glancing around and she realized he was looking for the other mutants. She hadn’t been paying attention to their absence until now.

 

“They are probably still back there….still thinking we could have taken them home,” she said and Crash looked at her in confusion. She can feel her own ears fall a little. “Listen, I know they were jerks to us and I’m still mad about what they did to us at Cortex’s castle, but….I wish I was honest with them once I learned the truth, that we can’t go back to the future. I just knew that without their help I would not be able to save you,”

 

They were all back to square one once more.

 

“We can!” Crash insisted.

 

“No, Crash. You don’t understand! When you left us, I came across N. Tropy,” she said and he blinked at that. “He said that there was never a chance for us to go back home. I was wrong. If we keep going like this then it will take us hundreds of years if not _ever_ to get back the Wumpa Island we came from!” she explained sadly.

 

Crash however shook his head and pointed ahead. “Portal, home,” he said, reaching for her hand only for her to pull it away. She was getting tired of this, tired of their misguided journey, tired of hoping only to be disappointed again and again!

 

“Crash, enough! We can’t keep doing this anymore. There is no point, okay? Just look at what this whole thing is doing to you!” she snapped, gesturing at him. He was hugging himself with an exhausted look on his face. “This is clearly draining you. You can’t keep doing this. We’re better off staying here where we’re safe rather than to put ourselves in more danger again. Everything we’ve done this far has been for nothing. We lost the other mutants we came across and we have no idea where we are again!”

 

“Aku-Aku…” Crash murmured, tone hurt.

 

Coco’s heart throbbed and she looked down at the mention of the kind mask. The thought of never seeing him again hurt her deeply, but she knew better now, knew what they were doing wasn’t going to fix anything. “Wherever he is or when….he’s probably safe and he would want the same for us,” she looked up at him almost pleadingly. “So, please. Let’s just stop, okay?”

 

Crash looked devastated and averted his gaze from her before slowly walking away. Coco sighed and leaned against the tree, feeling her eyes welling up.

 

It was for the best, she told herself. It wasn’t the first time they had to abandon a life they once were happy with and they at least had each other this time, but none of what she told herself managed to make it hurt any less.

 

**\--------**

 

Crash walked down the hill, following the blue thread while his tired body was not allowing him to move easily. Everything just felt so heavy to him. Eyes droopy and still hugging himself, Crash reached the end of the slope, glancing briefly up to where his sister was sitting.

 

She didn’t get it.

 

He knew his sister wasn’t lying about the things she said to him, but Crash couldn’t stop. After everything that happened, he needed to keep going. They had to go back.

 

He hadn’t forgotten all those times the two of them spent watching the world from behind the castle’s windows and wishing to see the island. They had worked so hard to escape that castle, to be free of Cortex and his plans for them. He, Coco and Aku-Aku…

 

He missed their home and the life they had there. They went through so much, sacrificed so much to get there and Crash ruined it, because he was too weak against those crystals. Coco told him it wasn’t his fault, but he knew it was. No matter what anyone told him.

 

That’s why he was going to find a way back home, no matter how long it will take him.

 

And no matter the cost.

 

It was then Crash realized his surroundings had grown dimmer somehow and he can barely make out the forest he once was in anymore. The glowing thread was now going elsewhere. He followed its ascent with his eyes to see millions of them filling the whole dark sky and lightening it up, much to his surprise. They were stretching everywhere he can see, intertwining and intercepting. It was breathtaking to say the least.

 

Crash looked back to the thread in front of him. His body can still remember how Uka-Uka used his ability to manipulate time earlier. What if…..

 

His tired face grew determined.

 

He slowly reached for the thread, grabbed it and **_pulled!_**

 

**\--------**

 

Coco didn’t know when it happened, didn’t see it coming, but something in the air suddenly shifted, _as if the whole world tilted_ and everything around her erupted, consuming her before she can even scream.

 

She swam through a blinding void of light and sounds for what felt like forever before finally finding herself on solid ground. Blinking away the spots in her eyes, Coco was greeted with the sight of the calm sea expanding in the distance. She was sitting on a beach, a familiar one. “W-wha-How?!” she stammered, falling on her back and finally finding her voice. Noises behind her made her turn and gasped.

 

Everyone was there. The mutants, the three scientists and even N. Tropy looking around confused.

 

“W-what happened?”

 

“Wait, this is Wumpa Island!”

 

“How did we get here?!”

 

Cortex, who was curled up on himself protectively, looked around and gasped. “I’m alive? I’m alive!” he cheered.

 

“We are?” Brio asked, opening his eyes too.

 

“I have survived once again!” he gloated, putting his hands on his hips.

 

The girl sat there staring at them in disbelief. How did this happen? How did they get here? One moment she was sitting by that tree and the next-

 

“Coco!”

 

She suddenly felt something hard press into her side and to her shock, it was her guardian! “Aku-Aku?” she murmured before hugging him back tearfully. She still didn’t understand, but he was here and that’s all that mattered.

 

“I was so worried about you two! I couldn’t find you anywhere!” the mask rambled on, looking close to tears…somehow.

 

“We missed you too,” she said.

 

“Wait, where’s your brother?” he asked.

 

Coco’s eyes widened in alarm and she looked around the beach frantically until her eyes fell on a nearly unfamiliar figure lying in the sand. _“CRASH!”_

 

Aku-Aku quickly flew over to him while Coco slowly limped with her injured leg to his side. She barely recognized him. His once bright orange fur was now ghastly white and he had huge dark circles around his eyes. He lay on his side, eyes closed with his breathing shallow and looking close to passing out right then and there.

 

“W-what happened to him….?” Aku-Aku could only ask.

 

It suddenly clicked in her head and her face went downcast. “Oh, Crash….” She murmured, screwing her eyes shut. She already knew what he did, but she couldn’t accept it.

 

“Come on, let’s carry him back home. I-I might be able to save him,” Aku-Aku stammered.

 

“Well, well, isn’t this just perfect,” the two turned to see Cortex walking over to them smugly. “I’m going to assume you all had something to do with how we’re all here. Thank you. N. Brio and I were kind of in trouble-”

 

“The future people wanted to kill us,” Biro piped in, shivering at the memory.

 

“…but now I think is the perfect time to settle a few things,” he continued, undeterred by the interruption.

 

Coco stared at him in disbelief. “Are you insane?! What is wrong with you? He just nearly _destroyed_ himself to save all of you!” she snapped and then her expression crumbled as she looked down at her brother. “…just leave us alone already,”

 

Cortex huffed. “And that’s where you are wrong. I wasn’t the one who went after you. _You_ were the ones who came after me and tried to ruin my plans! You’re just facing the consequences of that now,”

 

“Stay back!” Aku-Aku growled, floating over the two injured mutants protectively. “I won’t let you harm them,”

 

“We’ll see about that. Mutants attack!” Cortex ordered calmly, pointing at the three.

 

None of his mutants behind him moved.

 

“What’s the matter with you? Didn’t you hear me?” Cortex snapped, turning to them. His henchmen were glancing at each other, hesitating.

 

“We…we can’t do that,” Dingodile said, looking unsure.

 

“What? Why?!”

 

“Moe and I would have frozen in a snowy mountain if we haven’t been brought back here, so….” Joe trailed off, nervously. The other mutants seemed to feel the same.

 

Cortex’s form began shaking, causing his two assistances to back away.

 

“He’s gonna blow,” N. Gin whispered to Brio.

 

“ARE YOU ALL LISTENING TO YOURSELVES? I’m your creator! You should be listening to _me_ and I’m commanding you to destroy them!” Cortex snarled, fists trembling with rage.

 

The group remained quiet under the outburst. Brio was shaking his head warningly at them while glancing at the fuming scientist. Koala Kong spoke up solemnly. “Sorry, Boss,”

 

Cortex faltered in shock. “You….You-” he glared at Crash. “This is all your fault! You’re the root to all of this. I should have known you’ll make them act like you, you stubborn little imbecile! I’ve given you many chances in the past, more than you actually deserve, but now I’m going to do what I should have done-” he began, reaching for his laser gun only for orange energy cuffs to appear around his hands. The same happened to Brio and N. Gin. “What?”

 

“You’ll do no such thing,” N. Tropy said, marching over to them.

 

“What are you doing? We’re supposed to be partners!” Cortex protested.

 

“Not after what just transpired! The search for the power crystals had been an absolute disaster!” the taller man snapped, glaring down at him with a terrifying scowl. “You and your minions deliberately created changes in history despite my instructions, the last stunt pulled by that crazy bandicoot left multiple tears in the time-space continuum and _my Time Twister was destroyed!_ ”

 

“B-but-”

 

“Nothing that stupid master of yours promised me was worth all this damage. Everything was nearly erased several times with us along. Since he’s not here to fix this mess then you three will. You will assist me in rebuilding the Time Twister from scratch and undoing all the damage that happened through the timeline!”

 

“Assist?” N. Gin perked up.

 

“Don’t even think about it,” N. Tropy muttered dangerously, pointing his staff at him.

 

“Okay,” the smaller man nodded and inched back to the other two shaking men.

 

“Now let’s go. There is much to be done,” N. Tropy huffed and then looked over at the bandicoots and their guardian. Coco blinked when the man gave her a knowing smirk before hitting the ground with his staff and disappearing with the three men.

 

“Well, that was unexpected,” Moe said.

 

Now that the threat of the evil man was gone, Aku-Aku returned to the matter at hand. “Hurry, help me get him inside!”

 

**\---------**

 

Crash’s dreams were filled with flashing lights and screeching noises. Phantom pains poked at his skin while his surroundings melted and stretched endlessly.

 

He then found himself lying on his bed, waking up to soft humming. Still feeling tired, he sat up and looked around. Everything looked exactly as he left it that fateful day. Shivering slightly, he draped his blanket over his head and hugged himself with it.

 

“Crash?” The bandicoot looked up to see Aku-Aku floating over him, his body creating a warm light that faded once he noticed him. He looked beyond relieved. “Oh, I’m so glad you woke up,”

 

Crash smiled weakly and reached out, causing the mask to lean over for a hug.

 

“Coco told me everything that happened while I was gone. I’m so sorry you had gone through all of that by yourselves,” he said guiltily.

 

Crash then glanced down at himself and grimaced as he inspected his new white fur.

 

Aku-Aku frowned. “Don’t worry, I’m sure I can find a way to turn it back to normal,” he assured and Crash nodded quietly.

 

More noises then continued coming from outside the room, catching their attention. “Hold on,” the mask sighed and flew over, pulling the door open with his magic. “Could you all be quiet?”

 

“Sorry, Aku-Aku. They just wouldn’t-” Coco peered into the room to explain only to gasp and rush inside worriedly. “Crash!”

 

“Careful! He’s still recovering!” Aku-Aku called and she immediately stopped herself.

 

“Right, sorry,” she apologized sheepishly and carefully wrapped her arms around him. “How are you doing, big brother?”

 

He grunted in response, having been much better.

 

“You really need to stop pulling stunts like that, making me worry like this. I thought we lost you again,” she said as she pulled away, whipping her eyes.

 

Crash frowned and looked down at his lap. “Sorry. Had to,”

 

“I know that,” she sighed. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to get used to them though,”

 

“Leg?” he asked, looking down at her previously injured leg.

 

“Oh, don’t worry. Aku-Aku has been healing it for me. It’s much better now. I promise,” she grinned, stretching it in front of him.

 

“Oi, guess who woke up,” the three looked back to see Dingodile standing by the door with the other mutants peering through it, much to Crash’s surprise. They began entering the room.

 

“Hold on, there isn’t-” Aku-Aku tried to say, but they kept coming in and sitting on the floor in front of the bed. It got so crowded that Coco was forced to sit on Crash’s bed with him.

 

Feeling beyond lost, Crash turned to Coco and Aku-Aku for answers.

 

“They wanted a place to stay in and since they aren’t planning on hurting you, I let them in,” Aku-Aku explained tiredly.

 

“And you have no idea how hard they are to keep under control,” Coco added, glaring at the group.

 

“We’re not that bad!” Moe muttered.

 

“Tell that to all our broken furniture,” she replied and he dipped his head down. Ripper-Roo was probably the worst of the bunch so they had to make him stay outside where he can’t destroy any more of their interior.

 

“Well, you do have a small house with not much to do in it. Tiny and I can barely fit,” Koala Kong complained, sitting down on the floor along with others. As if on cue, the sound of something smashing reached their ears.

 

“Sorry!” Tiny called from the other room, causing Aku-Aku to sigh.

 

“Hey, white isn’t too bad on you,” Joe told Crash awkwardly, which got him a nudge from his brother. Crash giggled lightly at that.

 

“But listen up, just because we’re not fighting right now doesn’t mean we’re okay or anything,” Pinstripe said behind them while leaning against the doorway. “I’m still mad about the stuff that you did before and what you ruined for us, but…you did, _naively_ , save us back there when you had no reason to and we’re…..grateful, even if that whole mess was your fault,” he admitted reluctantly and then mumbled the last part. Coco glared at him.

 

“Aw, was admitting that as painful as it looked, Pinstripe?” Dingodile teased from his spot on the floor.

 

“Oh, shut up!” the other growled, crossing his arms and looking away.

 

“Now that you brought it up, are you all planning on staying here from now on?” Aku-Aku asked, though dreading the answer.

 

Koala Kong shrugged. “No clue. We are supposed to work for Cortex, but he and Brio are gone now. We don’t know what to do,”

 

“We agreed that we won’t be sticking around here for long though,” Dingodile gave a toothy grin. “If Cortex and Uka-Uka aren’t here to give me the treasures they promised me then I’ll go find them somewhere else myself. That’s one thing about my goals that hasn’t changed,”

 

“Same here, I won’t gain much from living here,” Pinstripe added. The other mutants nodded their agreement.

 

Aku-Aku blinked. “Um…very well, I will be taking you away from the island when you’re ready to leave,” he replied awkwardly.

 

Crash wasn’t surprised by this honestly. The other mutants always had bigger ambitions than he ever did. He could only hope humans wouldn’t freak out too much when coming across them.

 

“But anyway, I should bring attention to the fact that my brother is nowhere to be found and I can’t sense him anywhere,” Aku-Aku said and everyone tensed up.

 

“Yeah, he wasn’t with Crash and I after we got sucked into that vortex either,” Coco noted. “He probably ended up somewhere else,”

 

“Well, wherever he is right now, he might be planning on coming back, so we need to be ready when that time comes,” the mask said.

 

“Okay, sure. Whatever you say, old man. Anyway, time to hit the beach,” Dingodile grinned, standing up along with the others.

 

“Hey, this is serious!” Aku-Aku huffed.

 

“Take it easy, pal,” he told Crash before walking away. While Aku-Aku protested after them, it took Crash a moment until he realized what the other mutant called him.

 

**\-------**

 

Coco woke up with a gasp later that night and glanced around her room frantically, sighing in relief when certain she was actually home. When she closed her eyes, she still could see the Crash with Uka-Uka’s face from her nightmares, his booming laughter filling her head with ember eyes that cut right through her. She had woken up just as he lunged at her.

 

Seeing she won’t be going back to sleep any time soon after that, she sat up and grabbed her laptop. Might as well get some work done. While typing in the dark room, she absently glanced over to the window and spotted something. She first thought she imagined it, but when she leaned closer to the glass, she saw it.

 

Someone was at the beach. Confused, she went outside her room and slowed down slightly as she passed Crash’s door before entering the living room where the fireplace was. The other mutants were sleeping there. She made sure not to make a sound as she sneaked among them and slipped through the door.

 

She got a glimpse of Ripper-Roo snoring on the tree stomp they used to chop firewood and held back a snort before remembering the reason she was here. She cautiously walked toward the beach where the person was, feeling a knot in her stomach.

 

She froze up. “Crash?”

 

Crash glanced back at her in surprise, sitting on a lone log with his blanket draped over him.

 

She frowned sternly. “What are you doing out here? You shouldn’t leave your bed,”

 

“Can’t sleep,” he answered and she blinked, taken aback before sighing.

 

“Well, you’re not the only one,” she said, walking over and sitting next to him on the log. For a minute, the two just sat there staring at the sea and the night sky.

 

It was hard to believe just the other morning they headed out to save the world from Uka-Uka and Cortex only to return in that same day. So much had happened; honestly, it felt like several days had passed to her.

 

Coco eventually broke the silence. “Hey, Crash. I’m…I’m sorry for lashing out at you back at that hill,” she looked down at her feet. “It’s just….whenever we made any progress whether with the crystal collecting or with our journey back to the future, things kept falling apart no matter what we did. I just got….tired of it I guess. I didn’t want to keep trying just to fail every time,”

 

There were many moments back then when she believed there was no way out, that she won’t see this place or walk on this beach again. She was glad to be wrong.

 

“It’s okay,” Crash said, giving her his iconic smile. “Thanks. Saved me,”

 

“No problem. You can always count on me to have your back, big brother,” she grinned back. Suddenly, the two were interrupted by a new sound. They turned to see a pair of small eyes staring at them from the dark. Coco was ready to stand in front of Crash who was in no position to fight when the intruder finally revealed itself. It was a small fox.

 

“Oh, never mind,” she said, feeling silly and then noticed the excited look on her brother’s face.

 

“Hey, buddy,” Crash said quietly, beckoning it with his hand. The animals backed away warily, much to his surprise and disappointment. Coco stared at the animal and her brother in confusion until an odd memory came to mind. It was from the time Crash disappeared on her and she found him messing with something in bushes later. He denied he had been doing anything ad then distracted her with the meteorite he found.

 

_Oh!_

“Maybe it doesn’t recognize you because you look different?” she guessed, wincing. Crash glanced back at her and his ears fell down. He kept trying to beckon it though, refusing to give up. The fox soon stepped closer and sniffed his hand briefly before pushing his head into it in recognition. Crash scratched its head, grinning in relief. She smiled from behind them.

 

“Keep it?” Crash asked her hopefully.

 

“What? But-“ A million arguments sprung in Coco’s mind, but she refrained from voicing them when she saw the disheartened look on his face. She sighed. Well, she supposed he earned it, after everything that he did for them. “Alright, fine. I don’t know how Aku-Aku will feel about this, but just make sure to keep it away from other mutants during their stay here. Tiny might try to eat it,” she said and Crash cheered.

 

“Now come on, we should head back. Since neither of us is sleeping, let’s find a place for it in your room,” Coco said and the two began walking away while the small fox followed them. “Might as well get a good look at the meteorite you found while I’m there. I haven’t gotten the chance to before,”

 

“Space rock,” Crash said seriously.

 

Coco raised her hands. “Alright, your space rock,”

 

Crash nodded in satisfaction at that and she gave him a light punch on the shoulder, promoting them both to laugh. While they walked through the beach, a web of blue light flashed over the sky for a brief moment before fading completely.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Annnnd done! Phew, it’s hard to believe that it’s been almost a year since I started this, but I’m happy with the way it turned. I had an amazing time writing this and Something About You. I’m also very glad that you guys enjoyed it and stuck with me this far. Thank you so much. 
> 
> Until next time! :D

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading. In case you’re wondering this is an AU for the game Crash Bandicoot Warped just like how the previous story was for the first game. I decided to skip Cortex Strikes Back because, well, there isn’t much I could add or do with that game’s story. I hope this clears everything up. 
> 
> Anyway, let me know what you think of this so far with a review!


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